


A Hope I Can't Deny

by Girl_with_the_tiger_eyes



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: And then i shall start with more fluff, Canonical Character Death, Daryl might be a little younger in this, F/F, F/M, M/M, No real cute couple things till the prison really, Past Abuse, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Swearing, but yeah, like in his late 20s/early 30s
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-05-28 16:06:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 70,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6335410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Girl_with_the_tiger_eyes/pseuds/Girl_with_the_tiger_eyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She wasn't even from the States, and had only been there as she took a road trip with her friend, Alaska, flying all the way from the UK to enjoy a couple of months touring America, but naturally the damn apocalypse had started and fucked everything up.<br/>xxxxx<br/>Meet Juniper. After the apocalypse started, stranding her in Atlanta, Juniper is taken by a group of survivors, living with them for a few months until she finally escapes, fleeing the city and meeting another group on her journey. Knowing she has little chance of survival on her own, she joins the new group-knowing she can never go back into the city, and has to keep her wits about her so she doesn't end up back in the same position as before. But the new group seems trustworthy, lead by Rick Grimes, and soon enough she has a permanent place among them, no longer needing to worry about her bad beginnings. Especially as her fast friendship with the crossbow wielding hunter of the group means she'll always have someone to watch her back.<br/>So follow Juniper on her adventures with the group as they struggle to survive in the new world where no where is safe, they fight the dead and fear the living.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Days Gone Bye, Guts, Tell it to the Frogs & Vatos

**Author's Note:**

> So this is basically gonna be the story of the TV show, except with another female character, and random scenes that I add in for her, filling any gaps in time in the series. Plus Juniper will have her own sub-plots and stuff...

Run. Just keep running, don't look back. Keep going. That was all that was running through Juniper's head as she sprinted down yet another street, looking for anywhere she could hide. Hide from them... She knew that she had already passed some. Surely. She'd been running for hours, but the hard part was stopping. Of course her exhausted body wanted nothing more than to stop, but her mind did not. Fight or flight instinct right? Funny, she'd always assumed it was one or the other, but her day had seen its fair share of both from her.

Her fists were still raw, and she was almost certain she had a broken knuckle, but she hadn't had a chance to look. She hadn't stopped running since her feet hit the pavement. In fact, she'd been running for so long that she wasn't even sure if she was still running away. She'd made that many turns that she'd lost track of where she was. Not that she had that much of a clue to begin with. The only part of Atlanta she was supposed to have seen was the inside of the airport while she waited for a connecting flight that never came.

She wasn't even from the States, and had only been there as she took a road trip with her friend, Alaska, flying all the way from the UK to enjoy a couple of months touring America, but naturally the damn apocalypse had started and fucked everything up. 

Flash forward two months and there she was, still in Atlanta, running for her life. Well, she was. Now she was falling.

"Shit!" She cussed as her tired legs finally gave out on her as she jumped over a kerb, hitting the deck-her hands and knees screaming in protest. Okay, She admitted, Maybe it's time to stop running.

Scrambling to her feet, Juniper looked around quickly, seeing three rotters heading her way, but luckily no more than that. Not that she was even sure she could handle three of them. Weak, injured, and weaponless, she hardly stood a chance. Still, she looked around for a weapon, finding an abandoned baseball bat near the wheel of a burnt out car, blood staining the metal dark. Trying not to think too hard about it, she grabbed the bat and moved to meet the first rotter, swinging the bat at it's head hard enough to take it off it's feet. She had to hit it again to get the brain and stop it coming for her again. Luckily the other two stayed down after one hit, and she collapsed to her bloody knees, exhausted.

She knew she couldn't stop there. Rotters or people could come round the corners any second and she didn't have enough fight left to deal with them. Using the bat, she climbed to her feet, stumbling off the road and towards a store doorway, she glass in tact. She tried the handle, unsurprised when it didn't budge, so she barged it with her shoulder, trying not to cry out at the pain as she felt the door budge a little. It wasn't locked, just jammed. Three shoulder barges later, the door gave and she fell inside, landing on the cool tiles in a heap. The groan that left her lips as she got up was almost worthy of a rotter, and she listened carefully for any more authentic groans from inside the store. 

Silence.

"Hello?" She called out quietly, mentally face-palming as she recreated every cliché horror film she'd ever seen. Unlike the horror films though, she was truly alone. The store didn't look like it had seen any of the horrors of the world outside. Closing the door, she did a quick sweep anyway, and when she was satisfied that she was alone and in no danger of having her face munched on by a rotter, blocked the exits. Almost too tired to look around, Juniper half debated piling some clothes from the rails onto the floor and getting some sleep, but her clothes were bloodstained and she needed some food and water. So she stripped out of the scrubs she'd been wearing for too long and walked into the rails of clothes.

Ten minutes later and she was dressed in a pair of black jeans with a dark grey tank top and faded red flannel shirt over them. Her feet were bare as she'd managed to break the pathetic trainers she'd been wearing, but she'd worry about that later. Her stomach growled and she headed for the cafe, finding eight bottles of water in the powerless fridge, two of which she downed straight away, leaving six to take with her when she left. All the food on display had spoiled, leaving a few bags of crisps and various chocolate bars and brownies in packets near the till. She took what ever was still good, even fizzy cans, knowing they'd be good for energy. 

She piled the food and water together by the entrance to the cafe, leaving it there while she headed back into the darkening store to look for something to carry them in. Eventually she found a dark grey and orange 70l one, putting a change of clothes in the bottom of it before heading back to the cafe, passing through the shoe section on her way. She found a pair of hiking boots in her size and then a pair of converse to wear should she need to run anywhere before she wore the hiking boots in. Once the food and water was in the bag and she had the converse on, she felt that she could relax some. She was safe, clothed and armed, ready to run at a moments notice if needed.

She didn't know where she was headed though. All she knew was that she had to get out of the city before they found her. Before that though, much as it pained her to admit it, she had to get some sleep. With her rucksack beneath her head, she settled down behind a customer service counter, asleep before she had time to worry about anything else.

She woke to the sound of gun fire, her eyes flying open and her hand reaching for her bat.

"They found me," she whispered to the darkness, her heart beating so fast that she wondered if someone had been with her, would they be able to hear it? She jumped at the sound of another shot, this time sounding further away, and she wondered if they had actually found her, or if they'd ran into a herd while searching. She hoped it was the latter, for once rooting for the rotters to win. Still, she knew she had to move. The limited light coming in from the window in the cafe told her that she'd slept right through the night and into the next day. She had to keep moving, and not waste any of the precious daylight hours she had.

Getting to her feet, she stretched her sore muscles before grabbing a protein bar from her pack and started eating it as she moved through the store, towards the staff only stairwell she'd blocked off the day before. Hopefully she'd be able to go on the roof and figure out where she was and what direction she needed to head in to get out of Atlanta, and away from them forever. Once she was on the roof, she blinked at the bright day and waited for her eyes to adjust. The roof was empty, except for a few vents, pipes, and benches for the smokers who had worked there, so Juniper walked to the edge and looked over the city.

Her stomach dropped and her knees went weak the closer to the edge she got, and she gripped onto the wall hard enough that it was a surprise it didn't crumble beneath her hands. "Great idea, June. Go up on the roof and ignore the fact you're terrified of heights. Yeah, good idea..." She muttered to herself, trying to ignore her fear as she peeked over the wall, looking for something-anything that she recognised.

"Damn it!" She swore, backing away. It all looked the same. She'd been so focused on escape that she didn't bother to look at anything, and now she had no idea which way would take her further away. Another couple of rounds went off, somewhere to her left and she ducked down, hoping she hadn't been spotted and those bullets weren't meant for her. She didn't even dare risk checking, and instead scurried back to the door she had come through, closing it behind her and pausing.

The shots had been pretty far off, so maybe they weren't meant for her. Maybe they were firing at rotters. After all, no bullets had even come close, and it would be pointless to shoot her from far away f they knew where she was. It'd be much easier to pin her down in the store and then drag her back. So either they weren't shooting at her, or it wasn't them.

Deciding she wasn't going to stick around and find out, she ran back down a few flights of stairs, stopping on the forth floor and running though some office looking rooms towards some big windows at the other end, one of which was propped slightly open. Leaning out of it, she saw that there was a tiny ledge she could hold onto and climb across to the next building where there was a fire escape. If she made it down that, she was gonna get out of the city. This is the hard part, one thing at a time, she told herself as she carefully pushed the window open further. She knew it was the only way she could risk getting out, but that didn't make her any happier about the drop that awaited her should she slip.

Once the window was open wide, she carefully climbed out, her toes and grip on the windowsill the only thing stopping her from falling to a probable painful death. Still, she somehow managed to let go with one hand, slowly pulling her pack off until it dangled from one arm by its strap. The added weight would only make her climb harder and more dangerous, so she held the strap in one hand and acted against every instinct in her body, leaning as far back as the length of her one handed grip would allow her. Trying not to look down, she focused on the fire escape on the other building, swinging the pack back and forth, gaining momentum until she finally released it, watching it sail through the air towards the metal stairs.

It almost didn't make it, the heavy pack harder to throw than she had thought, and she watched it start to drop, heading for the alley below. A strap snagged on a bit of metal that stuck out from one of the steps and she held her breath as it rocked, surely about to fall and alert any rotters in the alley below that she was up there, narrowing her escape chances. It stopped, hanging from the fire escape by one strap, but it was enough. As long as the wind didn't blow too hard, she'd be fine.

Now for the real challenge. Holding back onto the window with both hands, she looked for some way to get her hands where her feet were, without falling. Had she been a little taller and the buildings slightly closer, she would have jumped to the fire escape, but she knew she'd never make it. Not without a run up. The only other option was to get as low as she could and then drop, hopefully catching the edge before it was too late. She'd done it before, when Alaska had dragged her to climbing days with her, trying to get her to conquer her fear of heights. But on those occasions, she'd been in a harness, attached to a beefy guy on the ground who would stop her from falling if she missed the hand hold. If she missed this time, no one was going to save her, and she'd just been Juniper jam all over the alley.

Trying to forget the mental image her thoughts had conjured, she shook her head, but saw no other option. She'd have to try. Removing her toes from the tiny ledge, she carefully but them on the bricks beneath, walking slowly down the wall until she was dangling from her arms, almost able to reach the ledge if she let go with one hand. Her heart was pounding, both with fear and the exercise, but she knew there was no turning back now. She had to do it, and soon, before her arms grew too tired and she couldn't make the rest of the climb. Sighing through her nose, she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

"You can do this," she whispered. Opening her eyes, she looked down and let go. She fell for less than a second, but to her it felt like a year, the ledge getting closer to her, if she missed it, she'd die. But then her hands were grabbing the ledge and her body slammed into the building hard enough that she almost lost her grip, but she held on, grunting with the effort and strain in her arms, but holding on. She'd done it. She wasn't going to be Juniper Jam. Not today...

Opening her eyes again, she stared at the bricks in front of her face, focusing on them for a few seconds before she finally looked up at the ledge and started moving, slowly edging along the wall and around the building. It became harder when she moved to the bridge connecting the two buildings as her feet were dangling in empty space, and she couldn't use them to help her along at all as she'd done before. Still, inch by inch, she kept moving, and soon enough her feet were on the wall again and the fire escape was closer.

"Why can't they just have shared the fire escape?!" She allowed herself to rant, mentally cursing the two building owners, and for not having a door between the buildings so she could walk inside the building instead of having to climb around the outside. 

Her hands were covered in bird shit and god knows what else by the time she made it to the end of the second wall, only a few meters away from the fire escape. Only, there was a problem... June swore as she saw what she had overlooked before. The ledge she was using to climb around on, didn't continue on the building with the fire escape and there was nothing else for her to hold onto to get there. 

Gritting her teeth, she growled, leaning back again to see if she could reach it if she stretched. No such luck, it was still a few feet out of her reach. She wanted to scream, but she refused to give up yet. There had to be something... Maybe she could climb back around, go the other way and try to kick in a window or something. She might lose her pack, but better than losing her life... 

She was almost ready to do that when she felt it. Rain. There was the sound of thunder and then the skies opened up and the rain came down, heavier than should have been possible, and in a few seconds she was soaked. Of course the rain meant that trying to climb back around would be suicidal, so she was stuck, her arms feeling about ready to tear off, and too high to drop without dying...

She had to think fast...

She saw no other option. She had to jump. Looking at the gap between her and the fire escape, she knew it would be close, but she had literally no other options. If she missed, she'd die, but that was looking to be the only end result of everything else she could think of. At least she had a slim chance of making it. Even if the metal was slippery with rain... She didn't have the time to debate it, she had to act soon.

Letting go with one arm, she swung herself around so she was facing the fire escape, her arms straight behind her, and her feet flat against the wall. She had to push off with all the strength she had if she hoped to clear the gap... She didn't let herself doubt that she would make it. She didn't have time...

She gave herself to the count of three, but leapt before she even reached two, pushing off from the wall, arms outstretched for the metal railing of the fire escape, coming closer with each millisecond. She was going to make it, she could see it already, almost allowing herself to smile as her hands found the slick metal and closed around it. But then her body slammed into the railing too, and this time she slipped.

Crying out, she grabbed for anything to save herself, her hands finding the edge of the walkway and holding tight as her legs kicked in empty space. She gasped in her breath, scared of how close she'd been to death. But she made it. She was alive. So grunting, she slowly pulled herself up until she could climb over and then collapsed on the other side, the cold metal biting into her back. But she didn't care.

After a few more minutes of catching her breath, the rain let up just as quickly as it had started, and the sun came back, warming her wet face. She knew she had to move, so she got up, leaning over the railing to grab her pack and pulling it on before starting down the fire escape, ready for another day of running, so hopefully she'd be out of the city before nightfall.

No such luck. For some reason, the rotters were everywhere, more so than she'd ever seen, crowding every street she wanted to move down. So progress had been slow, and it took her all day and night to make it anywhere near the outskirts of the city. She eventually had to stop, just closing her eyes as the sun rose over the city.

Somehow she was even more exhausted when she woke up hours later, the sun telling her it was past noon, and she'd slept for too long. She needed to move. So she checked the street for rotters and climbed out of the van she'd slept in, shouldering her pack and taking off again, moving slower this time. She hadn't heard shots since the day before, and the rotters seemed to have spread out again, so she hardly had any trouble. She could afford to take it easy for a little while and save her strength for if she needed to run or fight.

It was nearing evening when she made it out of the city, and it felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She just had to make it a couple of miles out and then they'd never find her. She could find somewhere to camp out for a while, maybe find a military base and hope that they were still operational and hopefully flying across to the UK... She knew it was unlikely. She hadn't seen or heard planes, choppers, or anything man made in the sky since the beginning.

She was so busy daydreaming about going home that she didn't hear the people behind her until they were already upon her, four men, all taller than her and armed with a lot of guns. Her bat was in her hands before any of them could open their mouths, though the leader lifted his gun, making her heart beat faster.

Still, she held the bat, deciding to hit him first if she needed to run.

She quickly looked at the other three, judging the guy with the crossbow to be the next biggest threat, but then the leader lifted his other hand, showing her that he meant no harm, telling the others to back up. They did as they were told, but Juniper didn't lower her bat.

"What do you want?" She asked carefully, addressing the one in charge, but it was the crossbow guy who spoke first, stepping forward and her grip tightened on her bat.

"You come from the city?" 

She hesitated but nodded anyway, and he went on. "You see another guy come this way? In a van maybe. He has one hand..." She was already shaking her head no.

"No. I haven't seen anyone or anything except for rotters. Not until you lot showed up..." She turned back to the leader, who was watching her carefully.

"You by yourself out here?" He asked, and she weighed the odds of telling the truth. It could be dangerous if they knew she was alone. If they were bad news... So she shook her head and then gestured to the woods.

"No. My boyfriend is in there. He'll be back soon. He took the dogs hunting," she lied, hoping it didn't show on her face, but the leader just looked slightly amused, though he didn't call her out on her lie. 

"Oh right. I only ask because we have a camp, further up in the woods. There's women and kids too. It's safe... Maybe you and..." She realised he was waiting for her to supply a name, so she quickly thought of one.

"Jake!" She offered a little nervously, and the guy smiled a little before continuing.

"Maybe you and Jake can join us... Safety in numbers and all that..."

She'd heard something like that before, which was how she'd ended up in that mess and on the run anyway, so even if the guy did seem trustworthy, she shook her head and stepped back. "Jake doesn't really like people... And we don't really need slowing down... So thanks for the offer, but no thanks..."

She knew she was unconvincing. She couldn't lie for shit, but that didn't mean she was going to stop. She hated lying and was always honest, but sometimes she had to lie to escape.

Unlike the leader, the crossbow guy didn't play along with her lie and stepped forward again, this time slower and put his gun on the ground between them before stepping back. "We ain't gonna hurt you, but it's stupid you being out here all by yourself when you could be safer with our group... Go ahead and hold onto that gun until you believe us, if you want... Just try not to shoot me in the back..."

Was it a trap? She couldn't be sure, so she acted quickly, grabbing the gun and pretending she knew what she was doing as she nodded to them to lead the way. Clearly the leader was impressed with his friend, though he looked at Juniper with some concern. Still, she held the gun and followed the four of them as they started jogging.

It was just getting dark when they heard the first screams, quickly followed by gunshots and more screaming. The leader, Rick, as he'd introduced himself, swore and the five of them started running through the trees, towards the sounds of rotters and screaming.

They burst from the trees together and Juniper froze at the sight before her. Bodies everywhere, rotters feeding on them while kids and people screamed and cried as they shot at the rotters. When one went towards a little boy, Juniper snapped out of her daze, aiming her gun with shaking hands and pulling the trigger. The shot went wide, so she ditched the gun, not wanting to accidentally hurt the living. Instead she ran at the rotters, swinging her bat at their heads and killing any that got in her way.

By the time they were all dead, she was panting, her bat limp in her hands as she looked around at the bodies that littered the ground and the survivors grouped together by an RV. Children were crying as they clutched onto their parents, and a lot of the adults just stood in shock, staring at what had become of their camp. One woman sat on the ground, sobbing and screaming for the younger woman who had just died in her arms.

What was it Rick had said about it being safe?


	2. Wildfire

An awkward way to introduce yourself to your new camp? By burying half of them. Which was exactly what Juniper did on her first morning with them, helping to carry bodies either to the bonfire or the back of a truck to be buried. As one of the few without emotional ties to the dead, she was also helping Daryl-the crossbow guy- destroy the brains, using a pickaxe. It was hard work and she was quickly covered in sweat.

She stopped for a second to wipe the sweat from her eyes and put her long, curly brown hair up in a high ponytail, keeping it off her neck. She'd already tied her flannel short around her waist and had a drink, but she was still struggling in the heat. She caught Rick's son, Carl watching her and offered him a small smile. He blinked but didn't smile back. She wasn't surprised, the poor kid had seen a lot. Still, kids adapted better than adults, so she didn't doubt he'd be warm up to her in a few days.

She watched him for a few moments more, noticing that he was looking at the sobbing woman and her dead sister, still on the ground from the night before. A few people had approached Andrea about her sister, but she'd either ignored them, or as she'd done with Rick, pointed a gun in their face. Juniper was staying out of it, though the dead girl was making her edgy. Something had to be done about it, and soon, before she changed and killed more people.

Clearly she wasn't the only one thinking it as some of the others had grouped together and were talking about it. She joined them in time to hear Daryl talk, gesturing to the two blondes on the ground. "Y'all can't be serious. Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb!"

He was right, and looking around the faces of everyone else there, it was obvious that they agreed, but Rick stared at him. "What do you suggest?"

Daryl lowered his voice. "Take the shot." He put his fingers to his head like a gun. "Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes at this distance."

Rick and Shane looked like they were considering it, but it was Lori who spoke up. "No! For god's sakes, let her be."

Shane and Rick shrugged while Daryl scoffed and walked off, saying something to a dazed looking Jim. Juniper could see his point, however it might lead to more problems. Andrea was clearly armed, and distressed, so if someone did shoot her sister in the head, literally in front of her, she might turn the gun on them and more people could end up getting hurt. So Lori was right. They should let her be for a while, and deal with the problem when it's time.

Getting back to work, Juniper zoned out as Daryl ranted about his brother, helping Glenn carry a rotter to the bonfire. It was only when a woman shouted that someone had been bit did she look up. Jim was standing with a shovel in his hands while the others moved to circle him, demanding to see the bite. T-dog grabbed his arms and Daryl moved forward, lifting Jim's shirt to show the bite on his chest. Juniper swore quietly. He was infected, but he was still alive. That meant his friends were going to have to watch him die slowly, too scared to get close, and their last memories of him tainted. It would have been easier on everyone if he'd died in the attack.

After a while, Jim sat near the back of the RV while the others discussed what to do with him. Juniper wanted to go closer, but at the same time wouldn't know what to suggest. She was barely one of them, so didn't think she really deserved a vote. Plus, she didn't want to be in any way responsible for what happened to him. For the short time she'd known him, she'd liked Jim. He seemed like an all right guy.

Suddenly Daryl was moving away from the others, lifting his pickaxe as he got close to Jim. Juniper made to run forward and stop him, but Rick was already there, his revolver pointed at Daryl's head, and Shane moving to block his path. Juniper couldn't hear what was said, but then Daryl was slamming his axe down and storming away, muttering to himself until he passed her, finding her watching him. "Got somethin' to say?" He challenged her. Not being especially good at keeping her mouth shut, she met his glare and stepped forward into his space.

"Yeah. You're acting like a childish twat!"

He seemed a little taken aback at her comment, though he said nothing else as she walked away, though she could feel his eyes on her back. She spent the next hour digging graves, allowing the burn in her arms and back to help her zone out from the task she was actually doing. When the others came over to bury their dead, she stepped away quietly, not wanting to intrude on the groups ceremony. So she walked back to the camp, wiping the sweat from her face and taking a deep breath, no longer tasting or smelling death in the air. Now she could smell the woods and the mud, with a slight hint of petrol and burning.

It was Shane who came back first, spotting Juniper and walking over to her. "Hey. Sorry we didn't get properly introduced... But thanks for all your help today... I'm Shane," He offered his hand and Juniper took it, shaking it and nodding.

"It's all right. I'm sorry this happened to you all. You seem like good people... My name's June."

He let go of her hand and gave her a small smile before walking off again. The others were coming back to the camp behind him, so June sat down out of the way, taking a drink of water as she let her hair down again. A shadow came over her, and she looked up to see Carl standing in front of her, looking happier than she'd last seen him, so she smiled at him again. This time he gave her a small smile back as he spoke.

"What's your name? My dad says I should introduce myself to you..."

Grinning, Juniper held out a hand for him to shake, seeing Rick and Lori close behind Carl, taking their seats close by, keeping an eye on the pair of them. She didn't blame them. Even if it was the end of the world, stranger danger was probably still a big thing in their heads and they'd known June less than 12 hours. Still, she ignored them and spoke to Carl.

"My name is Juniper, and I'm from a place across the ocean... A place called Britain. You ever been there?" She asked him, but he seemed preoccupied with her name.

"Jupiter! That's my favourite planet! We learned about them in school, and Jupiter is the biggest and..." he continued talking excitedly about his favourite planet, and it cheered him up that much that she didn't have the heart to correct him. Besides, being named after a planet was cooler than a plant. When eventually he did run out of things to say about Jupiter, they started talking about food as it was almost time for food. "I miss chocolate. We haven't had any in a while. Mom says everyone ate it in the beginning..."

Grinning at the young boy, Juniper pointed to her rucksack a few feet away. "Why don't you pass me my bag, Carl?" He did so, and she gave him a secret smile as she opened the top and peered inside, quickly counting and then looking back up at Carl, gesturing for him to come closer. "You wanna help me with something?" She asked and Carl nodded enthusiastically.

Opening her pack, she showed him the contents and then looked at the people around the camp. "Hand these out? One to each person... Make sure everyone gets one," she smiled, and Carl laughed jumping to his feet and holding the packets of brownies and chocolate bars in his shirt as he ran around the camp, giving them out. Juniper watched him, grinning at the joy the small amount of chocolate had brought people, mainly the children, but the adults cheered up at the sight too.

Juniper started digging around for something else to eat when she heard one of the kids from across the camp call to her. "Thank you Jupiter!"

Laughing, she waved it off and lay back on her pack, staring up at the blue sky, watching the few clouds drift by. She hadn't realised she'd fallen asleep until someone kicked her foot, and she opened her eyes to see Glenn standing over her. She shielded her eyes from the sun and waited for him to explain what he wanted. "There's a spare tent over there. If you sleep out here you'll get sunstroke..." He offered her a hand up, which she accepted and thanked him when she were on her feet. The tent in question was by Carol and Sophia's, close to the back of the group, under the trees. Thanking him, June walked over to it and went inside, finding a camp bed and sleeping bag inside, but nothing else. Good, she thought, at least I wont have to wonder who died so I can have it.

She dumped her pack by the cot and then sat down, listening to the sound of people outside and the wind blowing through the trees. If she was being honest with herself, she didn't know what exactly to do with herself. The group had just lost a lot of their friends, but she hadn't known them, so she couldn't mourn with them. She couldn't make small talk because none of them were in the mood. The only thing she could do was stay out of the way, or make herself useful... Grabbing her bet, she decided on the latter, walking out of her tent and into the woods to keep an eye out for any rotters in the area.

It was quiet to begin with, but after a while she heard the sound of something big moving around behind her. She moved quickly back the way she had came, looking out for anything, and eventually stopping when she saw Rick, Shane and Dale behind him. Only Shane was aiming his gun at Rick. She was just about to shout a warning when Shane recognised his friend and quickly put the gun down, and Juniper felt like she could breathe again. Rick carried on, as oblivious as before, eventually noticing Juniper staring at him, her eyes wide.

"You all right?" He asked. All she could do was nod to begin with, trying to calm her racing heart. That had been close.

"Yeah. Thought you were walkers..." She didn't add that Shane had almost just blew his head off, as something in Shane's face made her think that it had been deliberate and he had truly been considering killing his friend. If he debated doing that, she didn't really want to be on his bad side. So when Rick chuckled, she forced herself to join in.

She wanted to head back to the camp, but after what she'd just witnessed, she wasn't happy about leaving Rick and Shane alone together. Rick had saved her life by bringing her to their camp, so she was gonna have his back.

Eventually when they all returned to the camp, they found Lori sharpening a stick by the camp fire, while Andrea slept on one of the chairs. Shane had barely made it to the others when he started talking. "I've been, uh—I've been thinking about Rick's plan. Now look, there are no—there are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts..." Something he said made Lori narrow her eyes in suspicion, Juniper noticed, but Shane continued talking before Lori said anything. "I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?"

Juniper nodded along with the rest of them, remaining by the camp fire when the others left. So they were going to the CDC, and hopefully they'd be able to cure Jim. Of course, that meant travelling back into the city Juniper had hoped she'd never have to enter again... However, this time she was with a large group, so she would hopefully be safe... A headache was brewing behind her eyes so she attempted to rub it away, only succeeding in making stars dance in her vision, so she quit and sat back, staring at the fire. Everyone else was in their tents, but being alone was starting to drive her crazy, so she stayed with the fire, thinking about the next day.

She was just about to call it a night when someone stepped into the light of the fire and then sat down on one of the chairs. She looked at them, her vision taking a second to clear so she could identify them. Daryl. He looked back at her, his face unreadable, though his earlier glare was gone. Juniper said nothing for a moment and it seemed that Daryl was content to sit in silence too. Deciding she had to start talking to the group at some point, so Daryl would be her first proper conversation. First though, she realised, she'd have to apologise. Much as it hurt her pride to do so, she knew she had to. "Hey, I'm sorry for earlier..." He looked up from the arrow he was playing with, and Juniper leaned back and crossed her arms. "Not that I didn't mean it, because what I said was true... However, I'm sorry for saying it."

Daryl shrugged and went back to playing with the arrow, looking like he wasn't interested in talking. But then he looked up again and sighed, seemingly trying to make an effort. "You not from round here?" He asked, and Juniper smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"Now what gave you that idea?" She asked. He didn't even need to think about it.

"You speak funny."

Her mouth fell open for a second before she snapped it shut again, chuckling a little as she spoke. "You're one to talk!" She did her best impression of Daryl's accent, terrible enough that it actually earned a laugh from the hunter, and he continued grinning for a moment after. Shaking her head and grinning, Juniper explained where she was from and what her story was.

"I was supposed to be taking a roadtrip across the States with my best friend, Alaska. But we got stranded in Atlanta, and got separated... I got taken by some bad people, and I haven't seen her since. She could be dead for all I know."

Daryl nodded. "Not to seem harsh, but she probably is... Not a lot of people survived the early days, especially on their own..."

Juniper sighed and shook her head, staring at the flames again. "If anyone could survive, it's Alaska. She's brave, fast and strong. And she can fight... She made it, I just don't know where..." She paused for a moment, wondering if she was about to over step, but figuring she might as well ask. "What about your brother? Is he a survivor too?"

Daryl looked away and started biting his thumb nail. "Yeah. Toughest sonofabitch I ever knew. He ain't dead. No way."

June nodded, but said nothing further. The two of stayed there for a little longer until Juniper eventually found herself falling asleep, so she got up and walked to her tent, wishing Daryl goodnight as she passed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning she woke up early to the sound of people packing up, so she quickly got changed into her other set of clothes and then dismantled the cot, followed by her tent. It was a humid morning, so she was thankful that she'd picked up a pair of shorts in the store, even if they were denim and still black. At least she wouldn't be quite as hot as she'd been the day before. She also wore her hiking boots, having started to wear them in the day before.

There was no food left, except for more bars of chocolate in her bag that she broke up and shared between the kids. But the adults were still hungry and grumbling about it as the group all stood around together, waiting for Rick or Shane to give the order. Evetually it was Shane who spoke up. "Everybody listen up. Those of you with C.B.s, we’re gonna be on Channel 40. Let’s keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don’t have a C.B., can’t get a signal or anything at all, you’re gonna hit your horn one time. That’ll stop the caravan. Any questions?"

None. But then Morales spoke up, looking nervous. "We’re, uh…we’re—we’re not going."

Everyone turned to stare at him and his family, so Eliza spoke, explaining that they were going to Birmingham to find their family. Shane and Rick made sure that they were sure, but everyone could see that they were, so Rick handed Morales a gun and Shane gave him a box of ammo for it. Then the group said goodbye, and Juniper stood to the side, awkwardly wishing them good luck as tears were shed and the little girl gave her doll to Sophia.

Then they were gone, and everyone else piled into various vehicles. Juniper just stood there with her stuff, feeling like the kid who got picked last in gym class as she didn't know where she was welcome. She was just about to head for the RV when a whistle came from behind her and she turned to see Daryl leaning out of a truck window, waving her over. "Get in," He called, and June exhaled in relief, jogging to his truck and throwing her stuff in the back with his bike before jumping in the passenger side.

She nodded her thanks at him, and he gave her a nod in reply before starting the engine and following the others down the dirt road that would take them to the main road back into Atlanta. The two of them said nothing for a while, but the silence wasn't uncomfortable between them, and June stared out of her window, watching the forests pass, feeling like she could sleep again. Damn she was tired lately. Probably due to the nightmares that constantly haunted her sleep and woke her. Mainly they were of her and Alaska in the airport on that first day, fighting off hordes of the undead. Only that hadn't happened. Juniper had fought off hordes of the undead, but Alaska had already gone, and she'd never come back. Much like Daryl with Merle, Juniper knew Alaska had made it out alive and was probably locked in some store with enough food to survive a few months. If one of them was ever gonna survive an apocalypse, it was Alaska. She was the more outgoing of the two, not that June wasn't outgoing. It was just that they'd been friends forever, and Alaska's personality and behaviour had always smothered June's. Except maybe when June was angry, as she had quite the temper and was more likely to actually hit someone than Alaska was. 

It had been June's temper that was to blame for the two friends not being together. She had started the argument that caused Alaska to storm off, expecting June to follow her and apologise, just like she always did. But she didn't for once, and she hadn't regretted something so much in a while. If she'd gone after her, so much might have been different. Or I might be dead...She thought. Either way, she hadn't gone after her friend and had to deal with the consequences.

After a while, June realised that Daryl was slowing the truck down, and she looked forward, seeing that the others had come to a stop and were getting out. They did so too, walking to the front of the line to see that the RV was broken down, the front smoking lightly. Shane was driving further ahead and Rick went inside the RV to talk to Jim, leaving everyone else outside.

Carl came to stand next to her and June smiled at him, ruffling his hair with her free hand, the other gripping her bat in case anything came walking from the woods around them. Carl didn't seem bothered but his gaze kept flicking to the RV, and after a few moments, he plucked up the courage to ask what was on his mind.

"Is my dad gonna kill Jim?"

Kneeling in front of the kid, June took his hands and shook her head. "Carl, your dad is gonna do whatever he has to to keep you and your mum safe. But he's not going to kill Jim unless he changes into a walker," she explained, and Carl nodded, looking down. She was just about to ask him what was wrong, but then Rick came back out, his face grim. He explained when Shane came back with new parts for Dale's RV.

"He wants us to leave him here... Before he changes."

Carol's eyes were wide. "And he’s lucid?"

Rick nodded, looking troubled. "He seems to be. I would say yes." June could see his point. If Jim was lucid and he wanted to be left behind, none of them could force him to do anything else. As his friends, they should honour his wishes. Dale also agreed.

"Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants and I think we have an answer."

Shane pulled a face, looking uncomfortable. "We just leave him here? We take off? Man, I’m not sure I could live with that." Juniper couldn't help the face she pulled then. He was quite happy pointing a loaded gun at the back of his best friend's head though? The more she thought about it, the more she disliked him and wanted to punch him every time he opened his mouth. It probably had something to do with the way he looked at Lori too. Like he wanted her. That'd explain him wanting to kill Rick-the man in the way of what he wanted.

As she was busy glaring at Shane, she missed the rest of the conversation, only zoning back in as Shane and Rick went inside to get Jim, deciding to do as he wanted them to. 

Even June got choked up as she watched the two men carry Jim between them, up a hill and then leaning him against a tree. Once again, Juniper hung back, leaning against the RV as everyone else said goodbye to Jim. Her throat was tight, even though she barely knew him, and she knew that if she tried to say anything she'd cry, so when everyone started walking back down, she headed back to Daryl's truck without a word, getting in and staring at the dashboard until her throat stopped aching and she could look up.

Daryl was staring forward, focusing on the road, so Juniper said nothing. After a while though, Daryl spoke. "You carry that bat around a lot. Haven't you got anything smaller? Like a knife?"

Juniper shook her head and flicked the bat handle, making a small clink noise. "Nope. I only have this because it was literally lying in the street and three rotters were coming for me."

Without a word, Daryl leaned over, opening the glove box with one hand and reaching inside, pulling out a hunting knife in a sheath and handing it to her before he hit the box closed. She accepted it and looked at him for explanation, but he didn't look back at her, instead biting his thumb nail again. "Keep it. I've already got one, so you might as well..."

She thanked him but didn't look away from him, fascinated by him and how he could act like an arsehole at times, but at the same time be pretty cool to be around. If she wasn't careful, Juniper might be in danger of making an actual friend.

"Quit staring at me, you're weirding me out!" He snapped, and Juniper smirked but looked away.

They made it to the CDC in one piece, arriving just as the sun started to go down. There were a few walkers around, but Daryl took them down with his crossbow as the group all moved together, crossing towards the closed shutters. The stench was horrendous, and a few of them were gagging as they moved, stepping over bodies, both civilian and army, on their way. When they made it to the doors, Rick and Shane tried opening them while the others kept an eye out for walkers. The sky was darkening quickly and Juniper could feel the fear creeping up on her, especially as the doors refused to open.

More walkers were emerging and the kids were starting to cry as everyone started to argue. They had to leave. It wasn't safe at night. But Rick refused to move, swearing he had saw the camera move. The others were already leaving, Shane trying to pull Rick away, saying he imagined it, but June believed him. She had to. They weren't going to survive if they ran now, so she kicked the shutter, and Rick started to scream at the camera.

"Let us in you arseholes!" She yelled as she punched and kicked the shutter door, making sure whoever was inside would hear them, though she doubted anyone missed Rick screaming that they were killing them. Still, she pounded on the white shutters, about to kick it again when arms were suddenly around her, pulling her away and back towards the cars. The same scent from the truck. Daryl.

She was just about to start fighting back when suddenly the shutters were opening and bright light spilled out, making them all freeze in place.

Clearly someone was home.


	3. TS-19

The doors were open, why was nobody moving? June was just about to yell for everyone to get inside, but then Rick was moving froward and Shane told Daryl to watch the back, so she was released and the group quickly moved inside, closing the doors behind them and quickly looking around the lobby for any people.

"Hello?" 

A gun clicked and Juniper whirled to look, finding a blonde guy, half standing in the shadows, pointing a gun at them. "What do you want?" He called, and Juniper pulled a face. Clearly they weren't there for the view... Before she could say that to him, Rick was speaking up, asking for a chance. The guy chuckled but lowered his gun. "That's asking an awful lot these days."

Once his gun was lowered, June relaxed some, looking around for any other armed people lurking in the shadows, but she saw none. Either they were really good at hide and seek, or the doctor had come alone. After demanding a blood sample from everyone as the admission fee, the doc explained that he was alone. Something about his face stopped Juniper from demanding exactly why that was the case, and she followed him and the others into a room full of computers. 

They each took turns to give their blood, Carl sitting next to Jenner and introducing everyone as it was their turn. When June sat down, Carl smiled at her. "And this is Jupiter." Jenner smiled at the name and June blushed but didn't correct him. Maybe her new start with their group deserved a new name. So Jupiter would do.

She barely even flinched as the doc drew her blood, looking around the room they were in, something bothering her, but she wasn't sure what. When Jenner let her go, she got to her feet and walked a few steps before stumbling into the side, catching herself and waiting for her vision to stop swimming. She wasn't the only one. Andrea momentarily blacked out and Jenner saw.

"She hasn't eaten in days... None of us have,"Jacqui explained. Jenner seemed slightly taken aback, and quickly told them all to follow him. 

Not much later, all of them were sitting in a dining area, eating pasta, drinking wine and laughing, everyone able to eat as much as they want and finally relax. Juniper was on her second glass of wine when Shane decided to ask the question they were all thinking about, putting a dampener on the conversation, so June listened for a bit, but then got up and left, taking a bottle with her as she wondered the empty halls, heading back up to the lobby to watch the world outside.

So Jenner was truly it, and there was no cure. Jim still would have died, even if he'd survived the trip to the CDC, and one of them would have had to put him down. It was sad, and June had to wonder if he had made a cure, would she have had anything to go home to in the end, or would she finally make it home, only to find her family already dead? She didn't want to think about it, but sitting alone in the dark lobby didn't exactly inspire any great thoughts.

The sound of light footsteps coming her way had her reaching for her knife and about to get up when Daryl rounded the corner, a bottle of whiskey in his hand. She relaxed and put the knife down, leaning back against the wall and waited for him to say something. He sat down next to her and offered her the bottle in his hand. "You left the party early. Doc says we got hot showers in our rooms." June accepted the whiskey and took a gulp, feeling it burn its way down her throat until it settled in her full stomach.

"Yeah, well Shane kinda killed the buzz..."

Daryl snorted and had another drink. "No kidding. That asshole needs to learn how to celebrate!"

Juniper nodded and leaned back again, debating telling Daryl about Shane pointing a gun at Rick, but decided against it. The last thing she needed to be doing was causing more fights between people. Especially if she'd read the situation wrong and Shane hadn't debated killing Rick. So instead she sat with Daryl for a while, but eventually the promise of a hot shower became too good for her to miss, so she helped Daryl finish off the whiskey and then got to her feet, giggling when she realised that maybe she was a little tipsy. Daryl snorted when he saw her stumble, but then got to his feet and walked with her, shaking his head. "Disappointing... You're a lightweight!"

Slightly offended, Juniper was just about to argue that she had necked a bottle of wine and half a bottle of whiskey, but then she almost walked into a wall and so decided to keep her mouth shut. Daryl walked beside her, making mainly smirking at her, but stopping her from falling when she stumbled. The stairs were the worst part as she started laughing that hard that she had to sit down for a few minutes, unable to keep moving. Daryl watched her and laughed, eventually giving her a hand to her feet and helping her down the final flight and into the place the group would be staying.

She thought he'd ditch her there, but he led her down the hall and into a room with a sofa and TV in it, along with some bedding thrown on the sofa, and made her sit on the sofa. He stood up to walk away, but Juniper reached out and caught his wrist, stopping him. He looked down at her and she released him, but he stayed to hear what she wanted. "Why'd you keep helping me out? You gave me weapons, let me ride with you, brought me alcohol..." He laughed a little at herself and he rolled his eyes, but then she continued. "Why?"

Daryl frowned at her but then looked away. "Because... You're different. You ain't afraid to speak your mind, and you ain't boring to be around."

Slightly smug that she seemed to have made a friend, Juniper grinned up at Daryl. "You ain't half bad yourself, Dixon," she tried to mimic his accent again, and Daryl choked on a laugh as he headed for the door.

"Stop!"

Juniper chuckled to herself, asleep before he was even out of the door. Daryl stopped in the doorway and turned back, shaking his head again before turning the light off and closing the door. In the hall he met a drunk Shane, looking at the door Daryl had just walked out of. 

"Jupiter in there?" He asked, and for some reason Daryl felt himself tensing. It was obvious that she didn't like Shane, and she was too drunk to be dealing with assholes, so Daryl nodded but didn't move out of the way. 

"She's sleepin'," he growled, and Shane raised his eyebrows at his tone, looking like he might say something, but then Carl walked out of a room at the end of the hall and Shane moved on. Daryl watched him go, refusing to move until Shane was inside the other room, at which point he headed off to find more booze. 

He chuckled to himself thinking about Juniper. So she wasn't a great drinker, but she was good company, and Daryl was surprised to find that he liked her. Strange for him, as he didn't really get along with that many people... But she was different, and he wondered if maybe he'd found an actual friend.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Oh god!" 

Those were the first two words uttered by Juniper the next morning when she woke up, her head spinning, and a taste like something had died in her mouth. Falling from the sofa she'd spent the night on, she stumbled to the attached bathroom and threw up into the toilet, seriously regretting her life choices the night before. What the hell had she been thinking?! When she was fairly sure she wasn't going to puke again, she sat back and groaned, recalling the nights events and making a mental note to throw something at Daryl when she saw him.

She practically crawled into the shower, sitting under the hot water for a few minutes before she managed to get to her feet and actually get clean, even managing to detangle the birds nest that was her hair before she got out, wrapping herself in a warm white towel. She stood in front of the steamed up mirror for a moment before she worked up the nerve to wipe away the steam on the glass and look at herself. She barely recognised herself. She had barely caught glimpses of her reflection in the last two months, but even then... She was actually clean. Her face had lost weight, and she realised with a sad smile, that she looked like her mum.

Closing those thoughts down quickly, she got dressed again. It was too early in the day, and she was far too hung over to be thinking about that stuff, so she decided to distract herself. She wore the same clothes as the day before, but left her shoes in her room with her bag as she walked down the hall, following her nose to where she found most of the others eating breakfast.

Glenn looked as bad as she felt, groaning softly every time someone spoke to him, and Juniper could relate. She sat down after saying good morning and grabbed a piece of bacon, hoping she could keep it down. Daryl wasn't in the room yet, and Juniper secretly hoped he was still in bed, feeling as bad as she did.

"Hey Jupiter, are you hung over too?" Carl asked, and she looked up from her breakfast, blinking away the blurs in her vision. He was sitting next to his mum, with Rick at the head of the table, looking about three minutes away from being a walker, but smirking down at his plate. Looking back at Carl, Juniper summoned her best grin and nodded at him.

"Yes I am."

A snort came from behind her and she turned to see Daryl crossing the room, looking for food, and unfortunately not hungover. "Lightweight," he shot at her as he passed, and she flipped him off in reply before returning to her piece of bacon. She wanted to eat everything, but at the same time, she knew she was unlikely gonna be able to keep it all down, so she settled for a few pieces of bacon and loads of water.

The others were talking, but Juniper was zoning out, focusing on the pills on the other side of the table and seeing if she could move them with her mind. The dead walked the earth... So clearly stranger things had happened... Only the bottle didn't move, and focusing so hard on it had only made her headache worse. Accepting defeat, she reached over the table and grabbed the bottle, tempted to empty them all into her mouth in the hope that they'd work faster, but instead she took two.

She didn't realise anything had been said until she looked up and found everyone following Jenner out of the room. She got to her feet and followed after them, her sock feet slipping all over the tiled floor. She arrived in the main room in time to hear Jenner explain that everything went down, and he'd been in the dark for almost a month. Juniper came to stand next to Daryl, listening to the doctor.

Andrea's face was going red as she spoke. "So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?"

At her words, Juniper felt her heart stutter, stop, and then restart. If it was everywhere, that meant her parents... Her family... Her blood ran cold at the thought of them. They lived in the middle of a city. If Walkers took over...

"Man, I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk again," Daryl said quietly from beside her, and she found herself nodding without really thinking about what he said, her mind still preoccupied. She could sense his gaze on her face, but she ignored him, only coming back to herself when VI spoke.

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur."

Wait, what?

"What does that mean?" She asked Jenner, but he ignored her and walked away, refusing to answer any of them.

She shared a look with Daryl, but he just shrugged and walked in the opposite direction, back towards the rooms. After a couple of seconds she followed him, walking into Daryl's room behind him and saying nothing as she sat down on the sofa. He handed her the half empty bottle of whiskey and she took a swig before handing it back.

"So the whole world's fucked then?" She said at last, and Daryl looked at her from where he was sat on the table on the other side of the room, biting his nails.

"Looks like," he shrugged. Juniper sat back on the sofa and stared at the ceiling for a second until Daryl spoke again. "You worried about your family?"

She sighed and sat up straight again, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees as she looked at him. "Not so much worried...Just accepting that they're all probably dead, and I can never go home... I'd retained a little hope until this point that I'd find a way home. But now? There's not much point."

Instead of saying anything, Daryl offered her the bottle again.

XXXXXXXX

Maybe twenty minutes later, the lights went out. Juniper froze, her bottle half way to her lips, waiting for them to come back on. After another few seconds, she put it down and stood up, following Daryl to the door, finding everyone else out in the hall already.

"What’s going on? Why is everything turned off?" Daryl called, but as Jenner passed, he took the bottle of whiskey from Daryl and carried on walking, not bothering to stop as he headed back to the main room.

"Energy use is being prioritized."

Dale said what everyone else was thinking. "Air isn’t a priority? And lights?"

Jenner took a gulp from the bottle he'd just taken from Daryl and shrugged, still not slowing down, so everyone started following him. "It’s not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down." Daryl and Juniper shared a look, walking faster to catch up to the doc.

"Hey! Hey, what the Hell does that mean?"

Jenner once again ignored Daryl, so Juniper frowned, starting to lose her patience. "Hey! We're talking to you! What the hell do you mean? How does a building do anything?"

Jenner smirked. "You'd be surprised..."

Helpful... Juniper thought to herself, her eyes narrowed as she watched Jenner walk over to the steps leading up to the work station, pausing as he explained what was happening. "The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It’s designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule."

Juniper looked to the numbers displayed on the wall, seeing that he was right. They had thirty one minutes until the decontamination took place. Whatever that meant. Though she had her theories, and she could only pray that she was wrong.

Jenner took another drink from the bottle he was carrying before handing it back to Daryl, who snatched it away with a glare, spilling some on the floor. If Jenner noticed, he didn't care.

"It was the French. They were the last standing... Thought they were pretty close to a cure..." He explained to Andrea. If they were close to a cure, why not send their research everywhere?

"What happened?" Jacqui asked, and Jenner gestured around.

"Same thing as here. No power grid. The world runs on fossil fuels, I mean how stupid is that?" Juniper had to agree that the thought had crossed her mind. In a big fancy lab like that and they didn't have solar panels? Seemed a bit suspect. Still, nothing could be done then, so she focused on Rick, silently waiting for him to give the order to get the hell out of there. Jenner was clearly going off the deep end, and they were at his mercy. 

Before anything could be said, red lights started flashing and VI's voice started talking, announcing thirty minutes until decontamination. Rick ordered everyone to run before June could, telling them to grab their stuff and get out of there. Just before they made it to the door, it slid up, sealing them in. Juniper turned back to the doc to see that he had pressed the button to seal them in with him.

"Did you just lock us in here?" She started, heading over to him, but he ignored her and started talking into a camera. 

Suddenly Daryl was running past her, yelling at the doc and only just managing to get his hands on him before Shane grabbed him and pulled him away, telling him to calm down, even as Daryl continued to threaten the doctor with the bottle in his hand.

Rick demanded to be let out, but the doc only shook his head and said there was no point, and that everything top side was locked down. Something which he couldn't control. Rick refused to listen and continued arguing, but eventually even the doc got tired and yelled back, screaming about everything that the CDC contained, and what it had protected the country against. After a couple of deep breaths however, he managed to regain his composure and sat back down, looking more tired than anyone felt. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure—in a terrorist attack, for example—H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

It was more of an answer than they'd got so far, but Juniper didn't like the sound of it. To protect from something as radical as terrorists, they'd need a radical response. Which was exactly what VI described the HITs to be.

"H.I.T.s—high-impulse thermo baric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 degrees and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

Juniper's breath left her, and the whole world seemed to go silent. They were going to burn. They'd survived everything so far, every walker that they'd encountered, only to die in the very place they sought sanctuary. It wasn't fair. The world only came back to her when something threw a bottle and it smashed, the sound shocking her back to herself. Some of the others were using various weapons to try and open the doors while Rick looked to be trying to reason with Jenner.

Clearly Jenner had a death wish, as he called out to Shane, Daryl and T-Dog, who were swinging axes at the doors.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher."

Daryl ran back towards the doc, swinging his axe. "Well, your head ain’t!"

Dale, Rick and Shane stopped him, and T-Dog took the axe away from him, making sure that somebody could open the doors. If they killed Jenner, then they might as well sit down and accept their deaths right then. It was then that Jenner decided to address Rick and say what he'd told him the night before, clearly when no one else was around.

"You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."

Silence followed those words for a moment, and even Juniper was shocked. Had Rick really said that? Even after all the 'hope' he'd been feeding everyone since she arrived. If he didn't believe it, why bother making everyone else?

"I had to keep hope alive, didn’t I?"

Jenner just looked bored now. "There is no hope. There never was."

Rick moved closer, refusing to believe the doctor. "There’s always hope. Maybe it won’t be you, maybe not here but somebody somewhere—"

He was cut off by Andrea, who looked like she accepted her fate then. She knew she was going to die and she was fine with it. "What part of “Everything is gone” do you not understand?" Her lack of faith and fight started Juniper's blood boiling, especially when she saw the two kids sitting on the floor, crying into the arms of their mothers. They didn't deserve this, and Andrea was only scaring them more, stealing their hope when they needed it the most.

Jenner nodded and looked at Rick while gesturing to Andrea on the floor. "Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."

Suddenly Juniper lost her temper and charged at the doctor, quickly stopped by Shane, who held her back, but she still yelled at him. "ONLY IF WE LIE DOWN AND LET IT!" The room went silent, all eyes on her, curious about her outburst. "We need to fight this! We're willing to, but you're stopping us! You're saying there's no hope left, but that's just your opinion. We've survived this long because we can. I for one, refuse to be taken down by some bullshit virus, and I'm willing to fight it for as long as I can, so that there's a world left at the end of it all. A new world. A different one. But a world that I'm willing to fight for, even if I never get to see it. Because I have to believe that this isn't the end. We can fight this..." She gestured to the two kids on the floor. "For them. For the kids who will grow up in this world and not remember before. Because they deserve a chance... So don't talk to me about this taking us down... Not when you're the one locking the doors."

Jenner just stared at her, and she saw the hint of doubt cross his face, and she knew that something that she said had hit home. They just had to keep pressing. Rick must have seen it too, as he moved forward, kneeling to look straight into Jenner's eyes as he spoke. "I think you’re lying about no hope. If that were true, you’d have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn’t. You chose the hard path. Why?"

Jenner looked away, his eyes darkening. "It doesn’t matter." Juniper wanted to yell at Rick to back off. He was ruining the slim shot they had. But Rick knew what he was doing, and he pressed Jenner for an answer, his Sheriff training obvious to all watching.

"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?"

It worked. Jenner broke, explaining why he had stayed and giving Rick what he needed to manipulate Jenner's emotions, so he'd release them. "Not because I wanted to. I made a promise." He pointed to the screen and the TS-19 who was on there. "To her. My wife."

Lori gasped. "Test subject 19 was your wife?"

Jenner nodded, looking to be close to tears. "She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no? She was dying. It should’ve been me on that table. I wouldn’t have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field she was an Einstein. Me? I’m just… Edwin Jenner. She could’ve done something about this. Not me."

Rick's voice softened in sympathy. "Your wife didn’t have a choice. You do. That’s—that’s all we want—a choice, a chance."

Daryl grunted as he continued swinging the axe at the door, refusing to give up, just like Lori, who drove the final nail that snapped Jenner's resolve.

"Let us keep trying as long as we can."

Jenner was done. It became clear on his face before he even spoke, and he sighed as he pushed buttons on his keypad. "I told you topside’s locked down. I can’t open those." But the door to the main room opened, and quickly everyone was on their feet and running towards it, screaming for everyone to hurry. Juniper didn't need telling twice and pulled free of Shane's grip as she ran for the door, cursing her sock feet as she sprinted for her room where her bag and shoes waited.

She glanced at the timer as she left the room and swore. They had four minutes to get out of there. She grabbed her shoes and bag, not bothering to put her shoes on as she didn't have time to spare, and instead quickly ripped her socks off and ran bare foot, her progress a lot better. She reached the lobby quickly, seeing everyone trying to get out, but the doors wouldn't open and the glass wouldn't break, even when Shane shot them.

Shit... They had to make it out. They couldn't die there. Not when there was only a window separating them from their survival... Juniper ran over, about to demand one of their axes, but then Carol of all people, pulled a hand grenade from her bag and handed it to Rick. If they'd had any more time, June would have kissed the older woman, but they were all too busy running away from the window, taking cover by the steps.

There was the sound of an explosion, and June risked a glance up, praying that the glass had broke. A breeze kissed her cheek and she almost allowed herself to smile, but then someone had their hand around her arm and was dragging her to her feet and towards the shattered window. She forgot about the glass as she jumped outside, slicing her foot open on a shard that remained in the frame, falling down and crying out in anger. T-Dog followed her out, helping her to her feet and wrapping an arm around her for support as the group ran for the cars, Shane, Rick and Daryl leading and taking down any walkers in their path.

Juniper was sure that every second would be their last. She'd lost track of time until the building exploded, and she was waiting for the blast to kill them before they could get out of range. But it never did. They made it to the cars and jumped in, Juniper finding Daryl already in his truck, the engine running. She wondered what the group was waiting for, but then she saw them. Dale and Andrea, climbing out of the window and then running towards the cars. Had they been planning on staying? Not that Juniper could blame them. If they wanted an end, that was their choice...

The RV's horn started beeping, and Juniper saw Lori lean out of the window, yelling at the stragglers. She didn't hear what was said, but she didn't need to as Daryl yelled it too as he grabbed June's shoulder and pulled her down. "Get your head down!"

June obeyed, covering her head with her hands as she ducked down across the middle seat with Daryl, her eyes closed as she waited for the blast. This time it didn't disappoint, though she felt it before she heard it, the ground rumbling beneath the truck before an almighty assault on her ears of breaking glass and shattered concrete, quickly followed by an intense heat that warmed her back, even with the amount of ground between the destroyed building and their parked cars.

After a few seconds, only the sound of crackling fires could be heard, so June warily lifted her head and looked outside. Where the building had been only seconds before, now stood a huge pile of rubble and broken glass. Trees and cars surrounding the site were on fire, their smoke joining the massive column of it erupting from the ruins of the CDC.

"Shit man," she breathed, hearing Daryl grunt his agreement from beside her. The place was totalled that fast... And they'd all almost been inside when it happened. Jenner had been. She shook her head at the surreality of it all.

As she watched the flames and the smoke rise into the sky, she thought back to what she'd screamed at Jenner back in the lab, allowing herself one second to wonder if she'd been wrong. Would the day ever come when she wished that she'd stayed? Would the world ever beat her down so bad that she agreed with Jenner about no hope? She had to wonder, and for a full second she did. But then Daryl put the truck in gear and the world was moving again. She didn't have time to think about the future, because all that mattered now was right then.   
That was the only way they were going to survive it all.   
One day at a time.


	4. What Lies Ahead

Driving away from the remains of the CDC was hard, especially once Daryl told her that Jacqui had stayed behind, opting out, just as the scientists had done... But they had to go. They'd been given their next stop over the radio by Rick, who had told them that they were gonna try for Fort Benning, 125 miles away. Jupiter didn't know how she felt about that plan. 125 miles was a long way, especially with two kids and limited food. Who knew what awaited them on the way?

She distracted herself by looking at the long slice on her foot and wincing. She'd got blood on Daryl's truck and pointed it out to him, apologising about the mess. He just shrugged and looked at her foot, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a bandana for her to wrap her foot in.

"If it ain't a stupid question, why were you running around with no shoes on?" He asked as she poured a little water on the wound and tried to clean it. She paused what she was doing and gave him a look.

"Well it's not like I knew we were gonna need to run away from the exploding building. I didn't have time to put my shoes on, so I just ran. A cut up foot is better than being served up extra crispy for a walker..." She argued, sighing as her foot started bleeding again. The cut was long and deep enough that it was going to be a problem to walk on. She'd probably need stitches, which was just gonna be another pain in her arse, and that's assuming she didn't somehow get an infection... At least she was up to date on her tetanus though.

After a while, the RV came to a stop in a quiet neighbourhood and Daryl parked and got out to see what was going on. Jupiter didn't bother. She didn't want to walk on her foot, and risk getting something stuck in the wound. But then Daryl came back, opening her door and getting a good look at her foot as he spoke. "We're cutting down on amount of cars, so we're ditching the truck and I'm taking my bike. You should get someone to look at that," he nodded at her foot and she sighed but agreed, grabbing her bag and going to stand up on her good foot, using the door to support herself while she found her balance.

Daryl watched her and after a second held his hand out for her bag, slinging it on his shoulder before holding a hand out to her. "You want me to carry you?" He asked a little awkwardly, but Jupiter snorted and shook her head.

"I'm sure I'll manage," she smirked, leaning into him for support as she half hopped to the RV. Dale was already waiting with a first aid kit, and gave her a hand inside, accepting her bag off Daryl, who hesitated outside of the door for a moment. Jupiter smirked at him before flipping him off and mouthing 'traitor' at him, earning a chuckle as he walked away. 

Once he was gone, the smile fell from her face and she sighed. Driving with Daryl had been good. He didn't really want to talk, and when he did, he didn't pry into her business. The people in the RV did not act the same, all of them questioning her on where she'd been before she joined them, where abouts in England did she come from... Too many questions, though she answered a few to humour them, but she left out what had happened before they met, happy to leave her past where it belonged.

She'd bandaged her foot up after cleaning it properly, and now sat at the table, looking out the window at the passing scenery. It was beautiful, if she ignored the fast that there were walkers wanting to chew her face off if she got too close. But still, she could ignore them. What she couldn't ignore was the sound of Daryl's bike, riding ahead and making enough noise that she had to roll her eyes. Apparently he didn't care about drawing walkers with the sound. Not that any of them would be able to catch them, but still. It was such a Daryl thing to do, even if she barely knew him.

Andrea caught her staring out the window at the bike and narrowed her eyes. "Are you and Daryl..."

Jupiter pulled a face and shook her head, noticing Shane looking at her too. "No! He's just a friend. He's easy to get along with..."

Shane snorted, looking back down at the gun he was cleaning and shaking his head. "Dixon? Now that's a first. The only one he gets along with is his brother. The two of them don't much bother with the rest of us... Though he's getting something out of you, so that makes sense..."

Jupiter sat up straight and leaned across the table, her voice lowering. "He isn't getting jack shit from me. He's my friend..."

Shane just smirked more.

"Is that why I saw him coming out of your room the other night?" He teased, but Jupiter was just getting pissed at him. Mainly because if people started thinking her and Daryl were a thing and Daryl heard, he might get the wrong idea and it'd be awkward between them. They were just friends. Jupiter didn't want anything more than that, from anyone.

"We'd been drinking together. He's just my friend, Shane..." She couldn't keep her mouth shut anymore, finally letting him know that she'd seen what he'd almost done in the woods. "You know, like he'd have my back in the woods. I wouldn't have to worry about him pointing a gun at my head... Friendship, y'know?"

It was just a hint, as she didn't want to say it outright in front of Andrea, but she could see that her words had found their mark. Shane's eyes darkened and he stared at her, daring her to say what she meant, but Jupiter just tilted her head, as if to ask if he really wanted to do this? and he backed down, looking away.

Jupiter returned to looking out the window, a smug smirk barely hidden on her face, though she had to wonder if she'd just made a mistake in making an enemy out of Shane, especially when she couldn't run. Still, she wasn't going to back down and act afraid. Not in front of him.

So they sat in silence for a few minutes longer until the RV started to slow down, and eventually came to a stop. Jupiter frowned and looked out of the front window, seeing the crash site ahead, and Daryl on his bike, nodding his head at Dale to follow him. The RV started slowly moving again, weaving a path through the traffic jam and further along the road. Jupiter moved to the window again, looking at the cars she passed, watching for any walkers, but she saw none. There was a lot of dead bodies, but none of them moved.

Suddenly the RV gave a bang and then started hissing, quickly followed by Dale cussing at it as they came to a stop, and everybody started climbing out. Jupiter stayed seated until everyone else was out, not wanting anyone to try and help her and make her feel weaker than she already did. She was fine, and she was gonna prove it before anyone remembered she was hurt. So when she stumbled out of the RV, she saw the others just beginning to move to the cars to look around for what they could scavenge. She had just started to head off too when Lori spoke.

"This is a graveyard..." Everyone stopped and looked at her, and she hugged herself. "I don't know how I feel about this."

No one said anything, so Jupiter did.

"Look Lori, I get that you don't like it. But these people don't need it anymore, and we do. Surviving isn't comfortable. It never is. It's just doing what we have to to get by another day."

Lori stared at her for a few seconds, but the others had nodded and were moving again, so Jupiter gave her a half smile and then walked away, going to help find anything useful in the cars while Glenn and Dale worked on fixing the RV. She decided to head further up the road and work her way back, not really feeling like talking to anyone while she worked. It wasn't a fun job, and she saw things she wished she didn't, but like she'd said to Lori... They had to deal with things they didn't like if they hoped to survive.

She was on her third car when she heard something move behind her, and quickly turned around, finding Daryl picking through a car a few meters away. Sighing, she let go of the knife at her belt, letting it fall back into its sheath as she looked at her friend, his back to her. He was wearing a new vest with wings on the back, and she chuckled a little. She would have called out to him and told him that she liked it, but Andrea was close by, and she didn't want a re-run of before. So she kept her mouth shut and turned back to her own car, leaning further in to grab a tin of beans from under the far seat. She dumped it in her box and then moved onto the next car, ignoring her earlier decision to work back towards the RV, and instead moving further away.

Working by herself was better, but she was more on edge, constantly worrying about a walker sneaking up on her, especially when her foot meant she couldn't do much running. So she was listening out for anything, jumping and spinning around at anything more than the wind in the trees. She'd just pulled a first aid kit from the trunk of a car when the wind blew, bringing her the sounds of groans and the smell of rot. She turned around slowly, seeing a walker pack much closer to her than she would have liked, having already passed the RV. None of them had seen her yet though, so she dropped into a crouch, stuffing the first aid kit into the waist of her shorts and started heading away, looking for somewhere to hide.

She couldn't run, but she was moving fast enough to keep ahead of the pack and out of sight, her knife in her hand should any manage to catch up and she had to take them down quickly. She had just moved into a little gap between cars with bodies on the ground, about to run through when one of them moved and grabbed her leg. She almost screamed and raised her knife, but looking down, she saw Daryl, a body on top of him to mask the smell. There wasn't another body she could use, so when he released her, she moved quickly around truck ahead, laying on it's side.

Knowing the walkers had almost closed the distance, she knew she had to stop running, and actually hide now, so she saw the partially open sunroof and squeezed inside, praying no walkers were in there with her as she climbed around the back seats and hid in the dark boot, her hand over her mouth to quieten her breathing as the walkers came closer, but then passed. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds outside, amazed at how many walkers there actually were at one time, seemingly moving with no purpose. It was like they were migrating or something, just heading somewhere as a terrifying pack of snarling and biting arseholes.

She squatted in the boot of that truck for maybe five minutes before the walkers had passed, and then an extra few just in case. But when she climbed out, they were gone. She walked back around to where Daryl had grabbed her leg, telling him that they were gone. He shoved the body off him and then turned to one of the others, pushing it away and exposing T-Dog underneath, looking completely out of it, and his shirt covered in blood. Helping him to sit up, Daryl looked at the wound on his arm and wrapped his hands around it tight, slowing the bleeding. 

T-Dog barely even fought back, though it looked painful as hell, so Jupiter knew he must have lost a lot of blood. Acting quickly, she pulled the first aid kit from her waistband and kneeled beside the two men, opening the box and looking inside for anything that might help. There was a few plasters, a couple of bandages, field dressings and then some tape.

She grabbed the field dressings and ripped open the first with her teeth, grabbing the dressing inside and barely looking up as she pushed it down on the wound and held it in place as Daryl moved his hands, before she wrapped the attached bandages around his arm. She finished tying it and risked a look up at T-Dog's face, seeing that he was pale and barely conscious as he leaned against Daryl's leg. Daryl also had a hold of him, stopping him from falling down as Jupiter worked on his arm, seeing that he was already bleeding through the first dressing, so she added an additional, and then another bandage before the blood stopped soaking through. The three of them waiting a few seconds, watching the bandage for any blood to appear. When none did, Jupiter added more tape to keep the dressings in place and then sat back, a sigh escaping her lips.

"Stay here," she ordered Daryl as she got to her feet and limped back the way she had originally run from, finding her box had been kicked over and the contents scattered by various feet. Still, she grabbed what she needed and left the rest, deciding to come back for them later.

She returned to the two men as quickly as she could, wrapping the heavy blanket around T-Dog and then handing him what was left in her water bottle, forcing him to drink it while she watched. He was coming back a little, though he looked to be registering the pain then and looked at his arm. It had looked painful, and she had no idea what had happened, so she took his other hand and squeezed it gently.

"T, what happened?" She asked gently, and he looked at her, still shivering a little despite the heat of the day.

"I cut it on a car door," he sighed, taking another drink of water. Jupiter nodded and asked him to look at her. His eyes were normal, and his pulse seemed fine when she took it, so she smiled at him and sat back again. She could feel Daryl's eyes on her, so she looked up at him as she wiped the sweat from her face.

"You good?" She asked, seeing the blood on him but knowing most of it was probably T-Dogs. He nodded and she smiled before picking up the other object she'd brought with her. The tin of beans from earlier. Opening them with her knife, she handed them to T-Dog and instructed him to eat, inwardly cringing at the thought of eating cold baked beans. He ate them without complaint though and Jupiter got to her feet and headed around the truck again, looking into the distance to see the back of the walker pack. She was still unnerved by that many of them moving together for no particular reason, but she had other things to be worrying about.

Daryl had helped T-Dog to lean against a car and was back on his feet, heading her way. Her foot was aching again, but she didn't complain as he stopped in front of her, and nodded back to where T-Dog was sitting, finishing off the beans. "Did a good job. He's lucky you were here."

Jupiter snorted quietly and gave him a look. "You'd have done the same. I just happened to have the things on me..." She explained, knowing that it had probably been Daryl's idea to hide under the bodies. She'd just done what anyone would have, so she shrugged off his statement. He didn't seem as convinced though and shook his head.

"Nah. Some would have panicked at the amount of blood and left. Most people see a wound these days and leave, thinking it's a bite and not willing to hang around and check... You did good."

This time she just allowed herself a small smile as she looked back at T-Dog, happy that she'd been able to help him. Daryl's eyes were still on her face, so she wasn't surprised when he spoke. "You a doctor or something before this? You seemed to have done this before..."

Immediately she clammed up, turning away as a hundred visions flashed behind her eyes, of other people who she hadn't been able to help... People she had saved only for them to hate her for it after... She had done it before, but her training hadn't been voluntary. Daryl had seen her reaction and stepped after her, his hand reaching for her shoulder. When he touched her, she quickly spun around, flinching at the contact, so he pulled away, just watching her.

After a second, she seemed to come back to reality and blushed for her reaction, apologising quickly before she plastered a grin on her face and laughed it off. Daryl wasn't fooled for a second, but clearly she didn't want to talk about it, so he nodded. Jupiter was thankful, though pissed at herself for reacting how she had. They were out of Atlanta now, and Daryl was her friend. She could tell him, but at the same time she didn't want to talk about it, especially if he repeated it to anyone. It was her past and she was gonna make sure it stayed there.

The two of them didn't say much as they helped T-Dog to his feet and then back to the RV, finding the others standing around in a huddle, looking out into the trees.

"What happened?" She demanded as Glenn rushed over to help the two of them with T-Dog, his face grim.

"Two walkers saw Sophia. Chased her into the woods... Rick followed, but none of them have came back yet."

Jupiter limped over to where Carol was staring into the woods, silently sobbing beside Lori. She reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. "They'll be back soon, Carol. Rick'll bring her back." She didn't really know what else to say. She couldn't imagine the fear Carol was feeling as she stood there, waiting for her daughter to return after being chased by two walkers. Carol just nodded her thanks and continued staring into the woods.

A branch snapped and leaves rustled below, and everyone moved forward, Daryl and Shane pointing weapons at the source of the sound, silently waiting for whatever it was to show themselves. A few seconds later and they did, and Carol breathed a sigh of relief. Rick. Everyone started to smile, waiting for Sophia to walk out behind him. They kept waiting.

Of course Carol was the first to speak, unable to wait even a second longer. "Where's my daughter?!"

Rick froze as he looked up at her. "She's not back?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jupiter sat on top of the RV, scowling into the distance as she kept watch.

Rick, Daryl, Shane and Glenn had gone back out to look for Sophia almost twenty minutes ago, after Jupiter had been told she couldn't help because of her foot, and had then been ordered to take watch and stay off her foot. She had agreed, mainly because her foot was hurting and bleeding again, but that didn't mean she was happy about it. She knew she could help them if she hadn't cut her foot, so she was sulking because of that.

Another few minutes passed, and she saw Carol sit up straighter, seeing something in the woods, so she got to her feet and looked. She swore when she saw that it was just Glenn and Shane. They climbed back up the bank and stood under the RV so she could hear what was said too. "Rick and Daryl are tracking Sophia now, but in the mean time, we're gonna work together to find more supplies and clear some of these cars out of our way. When the three of them get back, we're getting off this road."

Jupiter frowned, but made to climb down, only for Shane to hold his hand up to her. "No. You stay up there and keep on doing what you're doing. You're not much use with that foot so you might as well."

Once again she found herself scowling as she sat there, her feet hanging over the edge as she kept look out, feeling like the laziest person in the world. She knew she wasn't much help with her foot and she needed to rest if she wanted it to heal, but that didn't make her feel any better when the others were working and she wasn't. She also had nothing to distract her from the thoughts of her friends in the woods, potentially being killed by walkers, with no help coming. Getting to her feet, she growled and peered into the binoculars to see if there was anything coming. Nothing. She sat back down with a sigh.

It was nearing nightfall when Glenn called out that they were back, and Jupiter waited, holding her breath. Carol's tears were enough of an indication that they didn't have Sophia with them. Jupiter could hear the conversation from where she was sitting. They'd lost the trail and were gonna pick it up in the morning as Daryl couldn't track in the dark.

The guilt on Rick's face broke her heart, especially when Carol clearly blamed him for what had happened. Any of them would have done the same, and if Sophia had stayed where she was, it would have worked. As it was, she was a twelve year old girl who had just been attacked by Walkers, and no one blamed her for running. Jupiter missed what was said next, but Rick walked away alone, away from the group and up into the cars ahead. The others split too and Jupiter's heart shattered all together for Carol, standing where she had been all day, still looking out for her daughter, hoping she'd return by herself.

The next morning the group were all standing around the RV while Rick talked them through what they were going to do in the woods.

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other..." He ordered, and everyone nodded and took a weapon, heading for the woods, except for T-Dog and Dale. Jupiter was almost to the barrier when Shane stopped her.

"Not you. You're staying here with Dale and T-Dog..."

She was arguing before he even finished speaking. "What? No way! I can help." She tried to move past him, only for him to grab her arm and Daryl to step in front of her too.

"He's right Jupe. You're only going to slow us down with that foot, and the terrain is too hard going for it. You gotta stay here..."

Jupiter growled and crossed her arms. "Are you for real? Both of you! I wasn't allowed to help yesterday, and now I'm stuck on babysitting again?! I can do this!" She pressed, but Daryl just looked at her, his mind made. The others looked on, saying nothing, and she realised that she was delaying their help to Sophia by arguing, so with a snarl she turned away and slammed her machete down on a car hood and stormed off, trying her best not to limp.


	5. Bloodletting/Save The Last One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise it's gonna get a bit more interesting soon, I'm trying to set the stage for various plans of mine, so just bare with me a little and thanks for reading!

Jupiter walked for about a mile, still not coming to the end of the car pack before she turned back and walked back slowly, deciding she might as well check the cars on her way for anything useful. They had enough food and water for a while, but they were still in desperate need of medication, especially if Sophia came back hurt. So she distracted herself with scavenging again, and returned to the RV a few hours later with her bag heavy and a crate full of things held in her arms.

She was in too much of a bad mood to bother talking to the others, so just dumped her treasure on the floor and started sorting it out into the relevant piles. She'd found mostly food, a few headache meds, a bottle of rum, and a pistol. She kept the gun in her bag, despite the fact that she had no idea to use it, but sorted out the rest, doing so quicker than she would have liked. Another two similar trips and then her foot was hurting too much for her to walk any more, so she climbed up on top of the RV and took watch again, using some of the suncream she had found in a truck, to prevent her skin from burning.

That was one upside to being trapped in Atlanta when the apocalypse hit... She'd die with a bit of a tan at least. Though she was currently burning a little from the day before, where it had been so hot she thought she might spontaneously combust. Today wasn't as hot, though she still took care to wear a hat and drink enough water as she rested up her foot.

It didn't take her long to get bored and climb back down, going to help Dale take spare parts from other cars, but T-Dog stepped into her path before she could.

"Hey. I never thanked you," he started, gesturing to his arm. Jupiter just smiled and shook her head, putting her hand on his good arm and squeezing.

"You don't need to thank me. You saved me outside of the CDC. We're even," she promised, continuing to walk to Dale again, looking up at the sky and noticing how long the others had been gone. They only had a few hours of daylight left. T-Dog came with her, voicing her thoughts, and Dale told him the same thing she told herself. He then watched T-Dog, who was starting to look out of it again, asking him how he was feeling.

T-Dog didn't answer him, so Jupiter and Dale shared a look before Dale picked up his gun and started walking after T-Dog, his task forgotten as he followed his friend. "T-Dog? I asked you how you were feeling. Please don't ignore that question."

T-Dog exhaled shakily but then answered quietly. "It really, really hurts. It's throbbing something awful," he confessed, and Dale and Jupiter both stepped forward to look. Dale pulled back the bottom of the bandage and inspected the wound, Jupiter peering over her shoulder. She felt her stomach drop at the sight of his discoloured veins, knowing blood poisoning when she saw it. Apparently so did Dale, as he quickly covered the wound back up. A little too quickly and T-Dog screamed in pain, pleading with Dale not to touch it. Dale held his hands up in surrender, but told T-Dog about the infection and possibility of dying from blood poisoning, to which he chuckled, laughing at the irony of dying from blood poisoning when the world had ended and the dead walked the earth. Had Jupiter been in his position, she might have laughed too, but as it was, she was the one who treated him to begin with, so she was responsible for making sure he was going to be all right.

So she and Dale ordered T-Dog to stay put by the RV while they went to hunt down some antibiotics. When they returned, he was smoking in the shade of the RV, glaring at nothing as Dale approached. Jupiter hung back, watching as Dale approached with a smile on his face and hands full. At the sight of the guitar in his hands, she got a little choked up, thinking back to when the world hadn't been ending and she'd been in a band with her friends, and the only things she'd had to worry about was fitting in practice around work. She turned away from the two men as her emotions suddenly seemed to take over and she was fighting back tears.

She hadn't actually managed to cry since before the world had ended, though she'd come close when they left Jim on the side of the road. But thinking about her life before, and her friends... If they were still alive... That made her chest hurt. Mainly for Alaska. If she hadn't started an argument, the two of them might still be together and at least a bit of home would be with both of them instead of them both potentially being alone in a strange place full of the undead and people who wanted to do them harm.

Her tears never came though, and she was back to normal almost as fast as she'd teared up. 

She looked back the way they'd come, back towards Atlanta, and for a moment she allowed herself to hate herself for running. For being so selfish and getting out of there without looking for her friend. Alaska would have looked for her if she was still alive, and was probably still in the city, looking for Jupiter every day.

With that thought came an overwhelming guilt. Jupiter knew her friend was alive, so why was she pretending to be one of the others, running away from the city and abandoning her life long friend? She was fooling herself into believing that she was one of them. She wasn't- A fact made clear enough by her being left behind when they went to search for one of their own. She wasn't included because they didn't trust her. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got, until suddenly her mind just seemed to click, and she let it all go, a new calm settling over her as she realised exactly what she had to do.

She was in the right place. She was just gonna have to find a working car, fill it with provisions, and then head back into the city, leaving the others behind and go in search of who she should really be with. They'd understand, and probably be relieved at one less mouth to feed, even if they had invited her to join their group... Her mind was made up, and once the others got back, she'd let them know of her plan, and then leave. It was settled.

She was just heading back to tell Dale and T-Dog her intentions when she heard a scream from the woods, and she suddenly had more important things to be doing. Her knife was in her hand instantly as she ran towards the woods, hurdling the barrier and landing hard on the other side, her injured foot giving out and she tumbled down the slope, landing on her back at the bottom, lucky not to have stabbed herself with the knife. She didn't have time to dwell on it though and quickly got back to her feet, running into the woods and towards the source of the cries. They gave out all at once, and Jupiter paused, looking around quickly, scared that she was too late.

With no screams to help her direction, Jupiter quickly started running in the same direction as before, praying that if it was Sophia who was screaming, she wasn't too late to save her.

As it was, Jupiter arrived at the source of the screams just in time to see a horse with two riders racing away, and Andrea laying on the ground, the others stood in front of her and a walker a few feet away, still 'alive', and just sitting up when Daryl raised his crossbow and told it to shut up as he sent a bolt through it's head. When he saw Jupiter standing with them, he looked down at her foot and then back to her, choosing not to say anything as he walked by her and headed back to the highway. They all followed him, and Jupiter figured they'd tell her what went down when they made it back to the highway.

She was right, and listened as they explained that a woman had rode out of nowhere on a horse and told them Carl had been shot, telling Lori to come with her, and then giving the rest of them directions to where they were. Jupiter listened with her heart in her throat, the thought of Carl laying somewhere with a bullet in him, making her go cold. He was just a kid. Who would shoot a kid? No one knew, but when she found out, she was gonna repay the favour for her young friend.

Although she'd been planning on leaving them, she now found it agony to wait while the others discussed what to do. Carol was obviously not impressed at the thought of leaving Sophia alone should she find her way back to the highway, which was fair enough, but Rick, Shane, Lori and Carl were going to need their supplies, so someone would have to take them.

When Daryl volunteered to stay with Carol and keep an eye out for Sophia, Jupiter immediately volunteered to help, wanting to be of some use to the group, and knowing she'd go crazy just sitting around while everyone else did something. Daryl just looked at her though, and Dale pulled a face, looking uncomfortable. Daryl opened his mouth to speak, but Jupiter just sighed and held up a hand as she turned away, already knowing what he was going to say.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just a burden, I get it. I'll go to the farm and sit on my arse. I'm sure that's going to help loads!" She snarled as she walked away, heading for one of the cars at the back of their line, getting in the drivers side and staring at the steering wheel for a few minutes until Glenn and T-Dog eventually joined her too. "You get voted out too?" Neither of them replied, so she just chuckled and started the car, following Glenn's instructions to find the farm.

It was dark by the time they pulled up outside, the three of them climbing out and heading for the front door together, T-Dog still wrapped in a blanket and Jupiter limping a little. They were just debating whether or not to knock, when a voice spoke from the shadows, and the three of them looked over to see the woman from the horse.

"Did you close the gate on your way in?" She asked, and Glenn answered yes, ignoring the smug look Jupiter gave him. She'd forced him to close it when he'd not thought it necessary, and she'd been right to apparently. A few other words were exchanged, and Jupiter smirked again, seeing how red Glenn's face had gone when he spoke to 'Maggie', and then they were led inside so someone could take a look at their injuries.

While T-Dog was being stitched up, Jupiter went to find Rick and Lori. They were in a downstairs bedroom and Rick looked sickly pale, his skin clammy, and after looking down at his arm, she figured out why. He was giving his blood to Carl, who lay motionless on the bed. At the sight of him like that, Jupiter quickly moved forward to his parents and hugged them both. "I am so so sorry this happened to him. Is there anything I can do?" She offered, just Lori shook her head and gave her a watery smile as she held her hand.

"No. Thank you. Shane has gone to get medical supplies so Hershall can operate."

It was only then that Jupiter noticed the other man in the room, his white hair tied back at the base of his neck and a tired smile on his face. Jupiter introduced herself and thanked him for helping them. He just gave a nod and turned back to Carl, so Jupiter let them be, returning to the other room so she could have her foot checked out.

It was good news, and the cut wasn't as bad as she thought. It was going to hurt for a while, but there was no reason why she couldn't walk on it, so long as she kept it clean. She was glad for the news, though it made her angrier that she hadn't been allowed to join any of the search parties for Sophia. Still, she knew she had to get over that and actually do something productive, so once she put her shoes back on, she grabbed her bat and went back outside to watch the perimeter.

It took almost thirty minutes to walk all the way around the outside of their land, so she walked laps of it, one eye on the woods, checking for walkers or Sophia. But it was quiet out. The only sound that interrupted her thoughts was that of a truck driving onto the property, and she knew that it was Shane and the guy who had shot Carl, back with the supplies. She knew she'd go crazy if she went and waited by the house, so she just continued walking, lap after lap, not turning in until after the sun had began to rise over the farm.


	6. Cherokee Rose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is an overlap of two episodes as it wasn't very long. However, the two of them are too long to post as one chapter, so I've split it in half and will post the next part when it's finished.  
> Thanks for reading!

Carl survived the night.

The same couldn't be said for Otis, who had died to make sure the equipment got back in time with Shane, and who's sacrifice was honoured the next morning as everyone at the farm gathered rocks from under the trees and put them in a wheelbarrow for a ceremony later on in the day. Jupiter helped gather the stones, enjoying being out in the misty morning as much as she could considering what she was doing.

She'd got a few hours sleep after walking the perimeter for a few hours, and the cold morning was refreshing, and she found that her foul mood from the previous day had passed, meaning she felt like a jackass for acting like a child in front of the others- especially Carol, who had enough on her plate. She'd apologise to the older woman later, she decided as she worked, doing her best to be civil to Shane. She may not like him very much, but he had just saved Carl's life, and had clearly paid a price for it. He had a haunted look in his eyes, like he'd seen too much bad in the world and it had finally got to him. It was that bad that Jupiter almost asked him if he was ok, but then she remembered the look in his eye as he pointed that gun at Rick's head...

So they worked in silence, except for Beth- Hershel's youngest daughter, who sang quietly as they worked. She was a sweet girl with a nice voice, sparing a smile for the strangers with her, even though they were all partially responsible for one of her people's death. Jupiter made sure to always smile back and make an effort to talk to the younger girl, who seemed to appreciate the effort. 

They were gathering rocks when the unmistakable sound of Daryl's bike reached their ears and they all stood up and watched the road. As their vehicles rounded the corner, Glenn and Shane headed to the house to meet them, and the others followed, probably curious about the others. Jupiter hung back though, deciding to try and distance herself from the group so when she left it would be easier. She'd already decided to hike back through the woods to the highway and start getting a car ready, while looking for Sophia on the way.

So she didn't talk to anyone until Otis's funeral, when she apologised to Carol, feeling Dale and Daryl's gazes on her, but she ignored them and spoke only to Carol after the service. 

"Carol, I'm really sorry for how I acted yesterday. I was childish and out of order, and I didn't mean to add to your problems... You guys just want to find Sophia, and of course I want that too. I didn't mean to make it about me..." She swore, but Carol just gave her a weak smile and pulled her into a hug.

"Oh honey... You wanted to help. You didn't upset me at all. I'm just thankful you're all so willing to bring her home. It means so much to me."

Jupiter relaxed and hugged Carol back, spying the others over her shoulder. Now was as good as time as any, yet Jupiter couldn't bring herself to tell them that she was leaving just yet.So when she and Carol separated, Jupiter returned to the house for just long enough to grab her bag and weapons before she turned and started hiking across the fields, heading for the trees that would lead her back to the highway, and hopefully a working car.

While she was in the woods, she listened carefully, calling out for Sophia every now and again, hoping that the little girl had maybe found her way somewhere roughly near their original stopping place and she'd hear Jupiter calling her. Though of course it wasn't only Sophia who could hear her, and after an hour of hiking through the trees, Jupiter realised that she'd attracted a few walkers with her shouts. There was four of them and one of her, but she wasn't weak this time, and definitely not afraid, so when the first came at her, she swung her bat without hesitation, knocking it on it's ass.

The others were too close for her to finish the first one straight away, so she turned her attention to them, fighting them off and killing them all. It was messy and she was panting from the effort afterwards, but she still managed a grim smile at the comforting ache in her muscles. It was good to be doing something that involved actual effort, and any walkers she killed were less that could find Sophia before her people do.

It didn't take long after she took down the walkers to find herself back on the highway, passing the car with the supplies for Sophia on it, all untouched as Sophia was still lost in the woods somewhere.

Trying not to think about any alternative, Jupiter got to work on finding a car that would get her back to Atlanta in one piece, and then hopefully out again, lest she run into the people who were probably still looking for her. She would not be taken back willingly, and thats even if they had any intention of letting her go back after what she'd done... She shook her head. She didn't have to think about that because she wasn't going back there. She was going to Atlanta to find Alaska, and then the two of them were leaving again. She was never going back.

She managed to find a semi decent car that still worked, so she took the keys and stored them in her pack and then sat on the hood for a while, watching the woods and hoping that Sophia was just going to walk out of them and see her. Then Jupiter could take her back to Carol and leave knowing that the group were going to be ok. Carl had survived, asking for Sophia to be ok didn't seem like too much to ask, Jupiter thought. Yet Sophia didn't come back out of the woods, clutching her doll and crying for her mum. The only sound was the wind in the trees.

Jupiter sighed and got down from the hood of the car and pulled on her pack, taking her bat again as she headed back into the woods, her foot complaining, but she ignored it and pushed on, walking a different way back, covering more ground and shouting for Sophia again, half hoping a walker would come again. None did, but she just walked on, calling Sophia until her throat was sore.

It was nearing dark when she got back to the farm, crossing the dark fields and heading towards the lights under the trees that showed where the others had pitched their tents. Jupiter's tent was still in the RV as she'd slept on Hershel's sofa the night before, and hadn't needed it. She'd put it up later, she decided, knowing that she wasn't interested in sleep right then. It was likely to be another long night. 

She didn't bother to tell anyone that she was back as she doubted they'd even missed her, and instead sat down on the edge of a field, leaning against a tree and watching as the final hints of day time disappeared, and the darkness reigned once more.

It was quiet except for the sound of people talking back at the makeshift camp, though they were too far away for their chatter to be anything other than vague mumbles to her ears. But that was how she liked it. She didn't want to be involved that much, not when she was trying to distance herself from them still, though their talking gave her a small amount of comfort.

She played with her knife, stabbing it into the ground repeatedly, her mind elsewhere as she debated what to do. She had to make up her mind and form a plan of how she'd find Alaska in the city. She could always start back where they'd lost each other, but the airport had been overran last she saw and it'd be hard to sneak in and out, unnoticed...

She heard Daryl coming before he spoke, calling her name in the darkness before he sat down beside her, his crossbow in his lap. He said nothing, and for a while neither did she, still pissed at him for not letting her help find Sophia, but then she sighed and looked up at the stars, speaking without looking at him.

"I'm leaving."

As usual, Daryl said nothing at first, though he began to pick at the grass in front of them, tearing it up in his hands and utterly focused on that for a few moments. When he spoke his voice was quiet.

"When?"

Jupiter took a deep breath and then sighed, shrugging her shoulders as she thought about it. "I don't know. I was gonna go yesterday, when you guys went looking for Sophia. I was gonna slip away quietly. Go back to Atlanta... but then Carl got shot. So I'm gonna stick around until he's out of the woods. Make sure I say goodbye before I head off... he's a good kid."

Daryl nodded and looked at her, his hands stilling.

"Why? Why back to the city? It's not safe."

Jupiter just laughed, meeting his gaze. "Is anywhere? I'm not fitting in here. You guys don't need me, and I left someone behind in the city... she wouldn't have left me willingly, so I'm gonna go back and find her..."

Daryl was silent for a few seconds, and she wondered if he'd said all he wanted...

"Bullshit," he called, and Jupiter looked up in surprise. "Bullshit. You saying you don't fit in here? That's a lie... and your friend? I told you before, she's probably dead. You're running because you're scared, so don't bullshit me, Jupe. You wanna feel sorry for yourself? That's fine. But don't lie to me about why you're leaving. You're the only one making you."

She stared at him, getting angry again, but he didn't look up, and after a few seconds she realised that he was right. She did fit in. She knew she had, and she was just making excuses to make herself feel better about leaving...

"You're right..." She breathed, and Daryl looked up, his face curious, but she just shook her head. "You're right, but I'm still going... Alaska is practically my sister, and I'm going to find her, whether that be alive, or a walker. I'm going to find her, and if need be, I'll put her down... But at least I'll know."

That was something Daryl could agree with, and he nodded, throwing the grass away and then facing her completely. "I got a question for you though... I could use your help finding the lil girl before you go... And once we find her, I'll come back to Atlanta with you. Help you find your friend and I'll find my brother... That fair?" He asked, offering her his hand to shake, and she nodded, shaking on it. His deal was better than anything she could have hoped for. She'd have someone to watch her back in the city, and someone who knew the area better than she did. Plus, if she did find Alaska as a walker... She wasn't sure that she'd ever be ready to do what had to be done for her best friend, so at least if she choked, Daryl would have her back.

The next morning everyone gathered around the map on the front of the truck while Rick divided them into search parties for each part of the grid. She and Daryl were gonna take some horses and head up a ridge to try and spot any clues that the little girl might be hiding near by. The others each chose a section to search and then they armed themselves and split up, heading out. Jupiter and Daryl headed back to the stables to get their horses ready.

Jupiter hadn't been riding since she was 10- an experience that ended with a broken arm and a fear of the beautiful creatures that lasted all throughout her teenage years and into adulthood. Not that she was going to mention that to Daryl... Not when they were looking for Sophia and the horses meant they could cover more ground quicker. She was gonna get on with it and hopefully realise she had nothing to be scared of. Of course, that was easier said than done, and when they reached the stables and stepped inside.

Daryl headed straight for a stable, but Jupiter hesitated, trying to calm her racing heart.

It's ok... It's just a horse, She reminded herself as she carefully picked up a head collar hanging on a stable door before walking inside. The horse inside was magnificent, a lovely chestnut colour with a white stripe down it's face, and black hair. It turned to her when she walked in, standing frozen against the door. It was thoroughly unimpressed with her and turned back to its hay net. Jupiter took a deep breath and then approached, throwing the guide rope over the horse's neck and then quickly but efficiently put the head collar on the horse. The horse barely even blinked, for which she was thankful, especially as it only took a little guiding to get the horse out of the stable so she could tie it up outside while she put on it's saddle.

Once she actually started remembering what she was doing, she got more comfortable, though she still jumped violently when her horse snorted next to her. Other than that though, it was all smooth sailing. Until it came time to get on her horse... She hadn't been on one since the day she was thrown and broke her arm in two places, and she found getting back on almost too hard to even attempt.

She'd been standing next to her horse for a few moments, trying to work up the courage to get on, when Daryl whistled at her and she looked up, seeing that he was already on his, just waiting for her. Determined not to show her fear, she just nodded at him and took one final breath before hauling herself up and onto the horse, swinging her leg over and then gripping the reins tight. From there she nodded at Daryl again and the two of them set off for the woods.

They had been riding in silence for a while when Daryl finally spoke, breaking the silence between the two of them, though not turning to look at her when he questioned her. "So what's your story... What'd you do before all this?" He asked, and laughed a little as she thought back.

"A better question would be what didn't I do before all this?"

Daryl looked back at her, silently waiting for an explanation, so she obliged. "Well I studied three years of Sport Science at university, and then when I graduated, realised that maybe I didn't want to do that, so I moved in with Alaska and her boyfriend, who happened to be a tattoo artist. So I worked for him for a while, mainly just as a receptionist, but he taught me a little of what he knew. It was there that I met my fiancé, Jake, another guy who co-owned the shop..." She took a breath and Daryl asked her another question.

"You married?" He asked, but she just smirked and raised her hand, showing no ring.

"No. But more on that later... Basically it didn't work out so well at the shop as I fell out with Alaska's boyfriend, so quit, and then moved in with Jake... I drifted for a year or two, working various jobs where I could, saving up my wages to pay for our wedding. My parents refused to pay for anything as they thought I was too young to get married, and neither of them were too impressed by Jake, as they'd expected for me to do better... But I loved him..." She smirked a little at the bitter memory that wasn't so far in the past before continuing, answering Daryl's other question. "Apparently more than he loved me... He cheated on me with my replacement at the shop. So I called off the wedding, and then me and Alaska used my savings to pay for this trip."

Daryl was staring at her, looking like he didn't know if he should laugh or not, but when she grinned at him, he lost the battle and barked a short laugh. "Sounds like you weren't having a great year, even before all this... How'd you find out about him cheatin'?" 

Now Jupiter stopped laughing, and remembered that night. "I know when I'm being lied to. So I asked him outright, and he came clean."

"How'd you take it?" Daryl asked, curiosity gleaming in his eyes as he looked at her. Jupiter smirked and blushed a little, slightly embarrassed of her reaction.

"For the first ten seconds? Really well. I spoke to him calmly, but then I thought about it some more, and then it just hit me all at once, and I can honestly say it felt the same as somebody kicking me in the chest. It hurt to breathe. So I wanted him to feel that pain, and lost my temper. I punched him in the face... Broke his nose... But then that was it. It was like a switch had been flicked in my brain. He didn't love me, so I wouldn't love him. I left with my overnight bag, and never went back... Two days later and Alaska and I were on our way here." Jupiter thought back to the flight, wondering if she'd never got on it. If she'd forgiven Jake and went home, would things be different? Would she be dead?

Daryl's voice was quiet when he asked his final question, no longer looking at her. "Do you still love him?"

Jupiter didn't even have to think about her answer, having known it since she walked out of her shared flat with Jake that night. "No."

After that she asked Daryl about any women in his life, and was only a little surprised to find out that he hadn't had a girlfriend when the world ended. Not because he couldn't get one, but because he seemed more of a loner type, and maybe more of a one night stand type of guy, rather than an actual relationship guy. Though from what he told her, he was also a drifter, following his brother around from place to place- even though from the sound of him, Merle Dixon was an arsehole.

Daryl hunted as they went, shooting a few squirrels with his crossbow and tucking them into his belt. Jupiter was impressed with his crossbow skills and was just debating asking him to teach her, when he suddenly held up a hand, peering through the trees and down into a ravine. She looked to where he pointed, unsure of what she was seeing until her eyes landed on the doll on the log. Sophia's doll.

The two of them dismounted and climbed down into the ravine. Daryl ran to the log, picking up the doll and looking at it. It was definitely hers, so Jupiter looked around them and cupped her hands around her mouth, yelling for Sophia, hoping she was nearby and could hear them. Daryl joined in, and the two of them stayed where they were for a few minutes, listening for a small voice, or the sound of something coming closer. But... Nothing.

Sophia didn't appear, or yell back. Still, the doll was a start, and more of a clue than any of them had found so far, so Jupiter refused to lose hope. They'd just have to head back up to where they were before and try again.

Daryl said nothing on their way back up, clearly deep in thought. Jupiter wanted to comfort him, but didn't know what to say. The doll was a clue, but at the same time, it was just a doll. What they really wanted to find was Sophia.

When they got back on their horses, the pair of them were filled with a new determination. In fact, the two of them were so busy looking for any other clues that they didn't notice the snake until it had already spooked the horses. Both reared up, and Jupiter gripped on tight, scared her fate would be the same as when she was ten, but she managed to stay on her horse, even when it bolted. The same couldn't be said for Daryl, who fell of his horse and tumbled into the ravine below.

"Daryl!" Jupiter shouted as her horse ran. If she had been concentrating, she might have been able to dodge the tree branch, but as it was, she only looked up in time for it to catch her in the stomach, taking the wind from her and knocking her from the horse and after Daryl. She bounced off every rock on the way down, it felt like, only thinking to bring her hands up to protect her head after she'd already smacked it. She felt her finger break and just had time to cry out before she hit the bottom and stopped, losing consciousness soon after.

She woke to the sound of Daryl swearing and found him laying close by, looking as bad as she felt. She groaned and tried to sit up, her head banging, and blood flowing freely from a cut above her eyebrow.

"Shit!" She swore, holding her shaking hand in front of her face. Her middle finger on her left hand was broken, sticking out at an awkward angle and painful to move even a little. Luckily that looked to be the only one, though she suspected she'd cracked a rib too as breathing and moving hurt like a bitch. Still, she had to move. Both of them did, before any walkers found them and they were defenceless to fight them off.

"D... Daryl," she gasped, trying to move closer to him without breathing too much. "You all right?" She asked, knowing he wasn't but not sure if he could move or not.

"Peachy," he bit, and she almost laughed, but then she saw the bolt through his side and swore colourfully. He needed the doctor, but the horses were gone, and they were both injured, stuck in the bottom of a ravine, with no help coming for god knows how long.

They were in so much shit.


	7. Chupacabra

The two of them made it-very slowly- out of the water and back to where they'd found Sophia's doll. Before they could even think about trying to get out of there, they had to deal with their injuries, so Daryl cut off the sleeves of his shirt and tied them around his middle, leaving the arrow in. Jupiter watched him, holding her own top shirt against her head, trying to stop the bleeding while breathing carefully, trying to ignore the pain in her chest.

It wasn't going well, but she hadn't passed out again yet, so she was trying to focus on that, and making sure she stayed conscious so she and Daryl could get out of there alive. First thing first though. Daryl was done binding his wound, so Jupiter called out to him as loud as she could, and when he looked up, she pulled a face, knowing that what she was about to ask was gonna hurt like hell, but she couldn't do it herself.

Holding up her hand, she showed him the broken finger and breathed out quickly, regretting it as pain exploded in her chest. "I can't set it myself," she gasped, looking at Daryl through watering eyes.

He knew what she was asking, and why, but he didn't look happy about it. Jupiter wasn't best impressed either, but they both knew it had to be done if they stood a chance of managing to climb out of the ravine. She moved closer to Daryl, and he took her shaking hand in his calloused ones and shook his head. "I'm sorry," was the only thing he said before he quickly jerked her finger back into place and she had to bite back a scream, made only worse when her ribs flared up again.

She yanked her hand back and tried to calm her rapid breathing, knowing each breath was hurting more and more. She had to calm down. After a few more moments she had managed to do so, and looked up at Daryl once more, finding him watching her still.

"Thanks," she gasped, looking down at the bolt in his side again before meeting his gaze. "We need to get the hell out of here."

Right on cue, the bushes around them started rustling and the two of them stood up and looked to the source of the sound. Nothing had appeared just yet, and it might only be an animal, but neither of them was willing to take the risk. Daryl reached for his crossbow, only then realising that he'd lost it somewhere, probably in the water. While he went in search of it, Jupiter stayed where she was, her knife drawn and praying nothing was going to come out of the bush that wanted to eat them.

Still nothing had came by the time Daryl returned with his crossbow, so the two of them shared a look and then looked up at the climb ahead of them. Jupiter wanted to cry, knowing that the climb would be difficult at full strength, but neither of them were, and every inch of the climb was going to hurt like a motherfucker. Knowing they had no other choice, they approached the bottom and started to climb.

Usually her pride would have stopped her from making any sort of noise to show she was in pain, but today she just didn't care, and every move was accompanied by a grunt from her. Not that Daryl was any different. Neither of them were in any shape to be climbing. Even if that wasn't the case though, she wouldn't have cared about looking weak in front of Daryl. He was her friend, and she knew he wouldn't give a damn anyway. He knew she could hold her own and wasn't going to think any less of her for being injured.

Their progress was slow, and it took them half an hour to reach half way, at which point both of them had to stop for a breather. Daryl looked down and then back up, seemingly cheered up by the fact they were half way up, but Jupiter was the opposite, and wasn't sure she had another half hour left in her. Her ribs were excruciatingly painful, and the hard exercise she was doing was making her breathe faster, which was a never ending cycle.

She heard Daryl tell himself to stop being a pussy, so she took his advice too and started climbing again, determined to make it to the top so she could lie down for a bit before they had to hike back through the woods and to the farm. The journey which wasn't exactly making her jump for joy. Though at least it was flat and she wouldn't have to do any more god damn climbing.

She was a little ahead of Daryl so didn't see that he was falling until he swore, and she turned back as his feet started to slide from under him. Acting on instinct, she reached for him, holding onto a sapling with her other hand, and Daryl grabbed her, his hand holding hers tightly.

Neither of them could even register that he was safe before Jupiter cried out, Daryl's weight on her arm pulling into her chest and ribs, feeling like her chest was being torn in half. She couldn't let go of him though, she wouldn't let him fall. So she squeezed her eyes shut against the pain and held on tight, feeling him scramble for something to hold so he could let her go. He couldn't move fast enough, and her hand slipped from her own handhold, sending them both back into the ravine.

This time when Jupiter hit the ground, she didn't blackout from the pain and felt the full force of it, the scream escaping her lips before she could stop it.

She didn't know how long she lay there, fighting to stay conscious, Daryl unconscious or dead beside her, but she couldn't move to find out. She could feel herself slipping away when Daryl spoke, and she felt the ghost of a relieved smile cross her face. He was alive. His voice was the last thing she heard before she lost consciousness again.

"I ain't nobody's bitch."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Jupiter... Jupe... Get up. Jupe!"

She opened her eyes slowly, feeling like she was late for school or something, but when she opened her eyes, Daryl was leaning over her, not her mother, and she was laying on the bottom of a ravine, not her bedroom from years ago. Daryl's mouth was bloody, and for a second she thought he might be a walker, but then he spoke again and she snapped back to reality.

"We gotta go," Daryl stated when he saw that her eyes were open, offering her a hand up, which she accepted after a second, thankful that he let her up slowly, sparing her any additional pain. If her ribs hadn't been broken before, they were now... On the brightside however, Daryl's crossbow bolt was no longer in his side, and was instead loaded in his crossbow. She realised why after a second, seeing the two dead walker bodies on the ground.

"Shit! What happened?!" 

Daryl explained about waking up to a walker trying to chew through his shoe and how he fought them off, pulling the bolt from his side to get the other one. Jupiter had to admire his strength at being able to pull a bolt from his own body and then fire it at a walker seconds later. Though it might not have been that smart.

"Let me see," she demanded, moving closer to look at the wound on his side and pulling a face at it. "At least it'll be easier to bind now," she sighed, her breath catching at the pain it caused her. "I need your shirt."

He gave it to her and she started to bind his wound properly, trying to ignore the pounding headache that made her want to be sick, and instead asked Daryl to distract them both somehow. He was silent for a moment, but then decided to ask her questions again. She decided not to even ask about the blood on his face and the walker ears worn around his neck.

"Don't take this the wrong way... But are you even gonna explain how you know so much about fixing people up?" He asked, flinching a little as she pulled the strip around him tight.

Jupiter said nothing for a few seconds, just focusing on her work and weighing up her options about telling him. Eventually the guilt won out and she sighed, her hands stilling as she looked up at him and explained.

"When you guys found me, I was on the run, trying to get as far away from Atlanta as I could, because I got taken by some bad people... I told you that much..." She took a deep breath and cried out, feeling like she'd been stabbed in the lung. Remembering the first two months she'd spent in Atlanta, scared and alone, unable to look for her friend, and no way of knowing if everyone she cared about was dead, she got angry but used it to force herself to keep talking. "Well they took me to a hospital... It was still kind of running... But it wasn't as good as they made out. They brought you in and then forced you to work for them to work off your debt that they kept adding to. Mainly it was just helping out the doctor with healing patients that the officers brought in after -most of the time- causing the injuries in the first place. Everyone had to earn their keep, even if they didn't want to be there. Like I said, most of the time it was working with the doctor... But there was this one guy, Officer Gorman, who always wanted a different form of payment from the female residents..." Her words were getting harder and harder to say, but Daryl put his hand on her shoulder, cautiously, remembering how she'd reacted last time, and met her gaze.

"You don't need to tell me. I'm sorry for asking again," he said quietly, his blue eyes full of mixed emotions. But Jupiter just shook her head and gave him a pathetic attempt at a smile.

"It's all right," No it wasn't. "I got out... I survived, and I'm not afraid of him anymore..." Another lie, but it was better than owning up to the reality that she regularly woke up covered in sweat after having another nightmare about her close encounter with him. She was one of the lucky ones, and had only had a few minor encounters with Gorman. She was a fighter, and that was what he liked. At least until the day she escaped, unleashing the anger and hatred she had been harbouring for him for the two months she'd been held prisoner. She smashed his face into a wall and injected him with something she'd found on a work table, hoping it'd kill him, but she didn't stick around to find out. She'd ran and actually made it out, not stopping running until Rick's group found her.

Her ribs were hurting too much to speak any more, but Daryl didn't ask her any more questions anyway, so she finished binding his wound and then stood up slowly. Daryl joined her, his crossbow in hand as they both looked up at the climb they had to make again.

"Race you to the top?" Jupiter joked, and Daryl even managed a small grin as they set off once more. They'd been climbing for around five minutes when Daryl's foot slipped again, but he managed to catch himself this time, much to the relief of Jupiter who glared at her friend. "Daryl, I swear to christ if you fall down again, you are carrying me to the top!" She threatened.

Daryl didn't fall again, and neither did she, though they were both delirious with pain by the time they got to the very top, Daryl even talking to himself and looking ready to fight his imaginary friend. Jupiter was too exhausted to care, and lay on the ground panting, holding onto her ribs.

After a few minutes Daryl seemed to return to a lucid state and told her that they should move, so Jupiter got to her feet and followed Daryl back through the woods. If she was being completely honest, she was so out of it because of the pain that she didn't even know how she made it back to the farm alive, even if she was following Daryl. Yet they made it, and soon enough they were walking onto the fields of Hershel's land.

Daryl was a few steps ahead of her, but she had to stop for a moment, under the cover of trees as she caught her breath, looking up to see others running towards Daryl to help him. It was only when she saw Rick point his gun that she drew in a breath to yell stop, but then Rick put it down as Daryl said something to him. Jupiter relaxed.

Too soon.

There was a shot and then Daryl collapsed to the floor, the others screaming no at whoever had fired the shot. Jupiter didn't care about them though and was too busy running towards Daryl and the others, her heart in her throat. Daryl couldn't be dead. Not him... Not now, after everything they'd been through that day. He couldn't be dead.

She reached them in time to see Daryl get hauled to his feet by Rick and Shane, conscious, but barely. The bullet had scraped his skull.

Jupiter fell to her knees in relief, but they were taking him away, and she wanted to follow and make sure he was all right. However, what little strength she had left had been used up running to Daryl, and she couldn't even get to her feet.

Rick saw and handed Daryl off to T-Dog before returning for her, saying nothing as he scooped her into his arms and started following the others back to the farm. Delirious with pain, Jupiter laughed as she thought about her threat to Daryl back in the ravine. "Tell Daryl he owes you a piggy back..." she sighed as she blacked out for the third time that day.


	8. Secrets/Pretty Much Dead Already

Jupiter slept through the rest of the day, all of the night and well into the next morning, not stirring once, even when her head was stitched up and broken ribs poked and prodded by the doctor. She slept through all of that, but woke up when someone dropped something in the kitchen. Her eyes flew open and she sat up quickly, grabbing her ribs in pain, but looking around her for any danger. She quickly relaxed. She was safe, inside Hershel's home, in one of the spare bedrooms...

Her calm only lasted a few seconds though as she remembered the events leading up to her losing consciousness, and Daryl had been shot. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Jupiter decided to give herself a few seconds to feel her pain, but then she was going to get up and get on with it. They had a little girl to find, and she had to check if Daryl was ok.

When her three seconds were up, she grit her teeth and stood, ignoring the pain in her side and grabbed the clean clothes she'd been left on the side, putting them on with some difficulty, but managing. She was just pulling on her shoes when she heard voices outside of her door, one younger than the other.

"Dad, when can I go in and see her?" Carl asked, and Jupiter grinned and stood, walking to the door and opening it to find Carl and Rick standing outside, Carl looking much better than he had been before. When he saw her, his face lit up and she grinned back at him.

"Jupiter!" He beamed, hugging her quickly, and even though it made her chest explode in pain, she didn't tell him to let go, and instead gently hugged him back, scared of hurting him. When he stepped back, she smiled at him again, trying to mask the pain on her face. She wasn't fooling Rick though, and he guided Carl back a step.

"How're you feeling mate?" She asked the young boy, but he just shrugged. Shrugged after being shot and almost dying a few days before, he just shrugged it off. She had to laugh, once again wincing at the pain, but ruffled his hair anyway. "You're one brave kid, Carl... And tougher than me!"

He laughed, looking proud. Rick was standing behind him, the same expression on his face, but when he looked at Jupiter, he looked a little worried, making Jupiter's heart stop for a second. Had something happened to Daryl?

Rick must have read her expression as he told Carl to go find his mum, and then the two of them watched him run off, looking strong all things considered. When he was out of earshot, Jupiter spun to Rick. "Is Daryl..."

Rick quickly nodded. "Oh he's fine! He's out in his tent. He got patched up last night and we told him to rest... What about you? Daryl told us what happened, and you look like Hell, no offence."

Jupiter smirked at him. "None taken... Daryl though... Is he really ok? Who shot him?" She asked, knowing who it was likely to be, which was only confirmed when Rick told her it was Andrea.

"She thought he was a walker... She feels terrible about it, so go easy on her?" He tried, but Jupiter made no promises. She could have killed Daryl, just to prove that she could shoot. It was a good thing she was such a shitty shot, or Daryl would be dead. Rick could read her expression, but chose not to comment, and instead changed the subject. "How're you feeling? You were out for a while, and Hershel says you've got broken ribs, maybe a concussion. You probably shouldn't be up and around yet... I'll get Hershel."

Jupiter shook her head and started walking, grabbing a roll of medical tape from the side as she went, heading out of the house to where she'd find Daryl. When some of the others saw her on her feet, they waved, and she returned the gesture but didn't stop to talk. Even Rick took the hint and stopped following her, so when she did reach Daryl's tent, they were alone. Or at least they should have been. Andrea was just leaving the tent as Jupiter arrived and the two women looked at each other. Andrea looked away first, ducking around Jupiter and walking away without a word.

"Shit shot," Juniper muttered under her breath as she walked into Daryl's tent, finding him on his cot, a book in his hand and his crossbow bolt across his stomach. He looked fine, so Jupiter released the breath she didn't know she'd been holding and smirked at him as she sat down on the end of his cot. "Dude, you shouldn't play with them things. Might hurt yourself..."

Daryl chuckled and threw the book at her gently, hitting her in the arm. "Yeah, real funny..." He sat up and looked at her. "What about you? How you doing?" He asked, and she shrugged and stood up slowly.

"Show me yours and I'll show you mine?" She suggested and Daryl nodded and lifted his shirt to show his stitched up wound, inflamed around it and looking sore as hell. He turned and she saw an identical one on the back, not to mention numerous other scars that she barely glimpsed before he dropped his shirt. She winced at the sight of his new wounds but then lifted her own shirt, showing him the multiple bruises down her side, darker around her broken ribs, but bright purple and red, like a huge tattoo. She had a few of them too, but Daryl was leaning forward and looking at the bruises.

"Shit that looks bad," he looked up at her and she dropped her shirt again. "You should get some rest. We can't go looking for Sophia today, but Shane and Andrea are covering for us. They found a lead..."

Jupiter nodded, much as she didn't like it. She wanted to be out there, but she was in no shape to help anyone. So she'd rest up, and then tomorrow the two of them would head out again. Until then, she was going to actually get around to setting up her own tent and get some rest.

So she found her tent in the RV and then with the help of Lori, she pitched it and set up her cot inside. Lori was just leaving when Jupiter called out to her. "Lori, wait... Can I trouble you for one more favour?" She asked, and Lori nodded and came back in. Blushing slightly, Jupiter explained that she couldn't lift her arms high enough to do her own hair so could Lori braid it for her. Lori just laughed and agreed, gently fingercombing Jupiters long curly brown hair out before starting to french braid it.

Jupiter sat on her cot, staring at the floor and thinking of something to say, but Lori saved her the effort when she spoke. "We all really appreciate you and Daryl going out to look for Sophia, Carol most of all. You barely know us, but you've done so much to help, and I just want to thank you on behalf of everyone..."

Jupiter blushed a little at the praise and tried to shrug it off. "It's mainly Daryl. He's the one you should be thanking. I wouldn't know where to start without him, and he saved my arse a few times. I'd be dead right now if not for him..." It was true. She wouldn't have made it out of the woods if not for him.

Lori finished her hair and then left her alone, so Jupiter stripped out of her shirt and then fished in her beg for some bandages and the tape she'd picked up earlier, knowing she had to do something about her pain. She bound her ribs tight, hopefully supporting them so she'd be able to move around in less pain, and then put her shirt back on, laying down on her cot and thinking about when they found the little girl, and heading back into the city to find Alaska and Merle.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day started off ok, the group sitting around their campsite, eating breakfast and talking quietly between themselves. Daryl and Jupiter were gonna go look for Sophia again as Shane and Andrea had had no luck the day before, they were just eating breakfast and then they were gonna go.

Jupiter was feeling better, though her chest was tight and she couldn't take deep breaths any more, but her ribs were feeling better, and she could lift her arms enough to climb into a saddle, so she'd be fine. Daryl was looking better too, though he still winced if he moved too fast, she noticed. She didn't let it bother her too much though. She'd woken up that morning with a good feeling. They were gonna find her today, she just knew it.

So yeah, Jupiter's morning was going great, right up until the point when Glenn stood up and announced the barn was full of walkers. She froze with her fork between her mouth and plate and stared at him, just like everyone else was. He had to be kidding, surely? But his face suggested otherwise, so everyone got to their feet and made their way to the barn.

Shane lost it, yelling at Rick about how wrong it was to keep walkers in a barn instead of killing them, and for once, Jupiter agreed with Shane. Yeah they were locked up, but they were still dangerous, and if they managed to get out in the night, it'd be like a rerun of Jupiter's first night with the group, but maybe none of them would have survived. 

However, Rick didn't want to go in and kill them, as it was Hershel's land and his decision. So Shane said they should leave, to which Rick disagreed and when questioned, it was Carol who stepped forward. If she hadn't, Jupiter would have.

"Because my daughter's still out there," she insisted. Shane didn't see that as an issue anymore though and stared at Carol for a few seconds before finally saying what has been eating him for days. "I think it's about time we all started to consider the other possibility," he started, but Jupiter stepped forward and argued for Carol.

"I don't think so! Daryl and I found her doll two days ago! We're close to finding her!" She argued, but Shane just laughed at her.

"Yeah thats what you did guys. You found a DOLL!"

Her anger was bubbling, but this time it was Daryl who stepped forward, getting into Shane's face. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about!"

From there they had an argument, which ended with Shane saying Daryl would scare Sophia off with how he acted, the walkers ears around his neck- making Daryl lose his temper and start yelling back, trying to jump at him, but Rick jumped in between them, trying to separate them. Jupiter had half a mind to let them fight it out, as Shane deserved to have his ass kicked for what he was saying, but Daryl was still injured and Shane would win. So Jupiter ran forward and grabbed Daryl's arm, attempting to pull him away, and surprisingly he came without much of a fight, though his eyes remained locked on Shane, staring him down.

Shane got into another screaming match with some of the others, and all the noise drew the attention of the walkers inside, who started to pull at the doors and snarl. Most of the others backed away quickly, but Jupiter stayed put, her hand going to her knife, just in case. But the walkers were stuck in there, and the group was safe... For now.

After finding about the walkers in the barn, Jupiter was pretty lost in her thoughts, unsure of what they should do. It'd be brutal to kill Hershel's family in front of him, even if they were walkers. But at the same time, they're a risk to his surviving family, and Jupiter's group. If she needed to, she would put every one of them down, by herself if needs be... 

She was almost to the stables with Daryl when she remembered that she'd left her bat in her tent so told Daryl to start getting the horses ready and she'd catch up in a minute. As she ran back to her tent, she saw Carol heading for the stables and wondered if she was going to thank Daryl for not giving up on her little girl. He deserved it. His faith that they would find her was unwavering. Even Jupiter had her doubts about finding the girl alive after so long, but Daryl's faith restored her own, and she knew they were going to find her today. She was so sure of it that she was almost whistling as she returned to the stables. At least until Daryl suddenly stormed passed her, his face like thunder and clearly in pain.

"Stupid bitch," he hissed, and for a moment Jupiter froze, thinking he was talking to her and about to rugby tackle him for it, but then she saw Carol in the stables, tears running down her face and a saddle on the floor, looking like it had been thrown. Deciding to see what was wrong with Daryl after, she walked into the stables and helped Carol pick up the saddle.

"Carol, what happened? What's wrong with Daryl?" She asked, putting her hand on Carol's shoulder gently. Carol sucked in a breath and then explained what she'd said to Daryl.

"He's injured... So are you... If you go out before you've healed, you're both going to end up dead... And Sophia..." She took a deep breath and sniffed, squaring her shoulders before saying the words Jupiter had never expected to come out of Carol's mouth. "Well we might never find her. The group can't lose you two too... I can't."

Jupiter remained silent, seeing why Daryl was angry, but at the same time Carol was trying to be realistic, and Sophia had been gone a long time, and they might never find her. Not that Jupiter was going to let herself believe that, but if Carol needed to think that to deal with it, then Jupiter wasn't going to be the one to burst her bubble. The two of them stood up and Jupiter put the saddle back on the stand before stepping forward and quickly hugging Carol.

"I'll talk to Daryl. You know he didn't mean what he said, right? He's hurt and really wants to find Sophia... He's angry at himself for being hurt... Not at you, ok?" She explained to the older woman, knowing how bad Carol already felt.

When she pulled back, she left her hands on Carols shoulders and smiled at her. Then she turned around and the smile dropped from her face as she stormed from the stables and went in search of Daryl. When she found him he was storming across one of the fields and she had to jog to catch up to him.

"Daryl!" She yelled after him, but he didn't stop until she yelled him again, closer, and he whirled around so fast she thought he was going to hit her.

"WHAT?" He yelled straight at her, making her anger flare up in response and she pushed him back a step, getting him out of her face.

"Daryl Dixon, you better get your arse back over there and apologise to Carol! I can't believe you just called her that!" She snarled, gesturing back to the buildings they'd left far enough behind them that no one could hear what they were yelling at each other, though it was obvious they were arguing by the way people kept looking up at them. Luckily no one came to intervene.

Daryl shook his head quickly and threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "Did you hear what she said to me? She thinks we might never find Sophia!"

Jupiter rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, unbelieving of how unreasonable he was being. "And you don't think it was hard for her to say that to you? To tell you that her daughter might never come home and she doesn't want to lose you too? Daryl she had to make an impossible decision between you and her daughter, and she chose you! Do you know how much she must care about you for that to even register in her mind as a choice?! She's trying to protect the group, and protect her heart. Yeah Sophia might still be alive, but right now, you are alive. Definitely, which is more than she knows about Sophia. So if protecting you is how she's going to deal with it, then you're going to damn well let her!"

Daryl seemed to deflate at Juniper's words, and she was thankful. All the yelling had made her chest feel really tight and painful, so it was good to be able to breathe normally again. Well, almost normally. Her chest was far too tight than comfortable, but her mission was done, and Daryl nodded at her. The two of them set off back towards the house and stables. When they passed the tents, Jupiter retreated into hers and let Daryl go alone to apologise to Carol.

Inside of her tent, she allowed herself to show some weakness, clutching at her ribs as she bent double, the pain making her head swim. She had to get past it though. She and Daryl were gonna find Sophia. She didn't have time for her pity party... She needed pain killers if she had any hope of trekking through the woods in her condition, so she went in search of some.

When she returned, she found Daryl and Carol walking off together and knew she had a little time to kill, so she decided to make herself useful and do some of the chores in the camp, managing to hand clean all of the dirty clothes in camp by the time everyone came back, heading towards the house. Curious about what was going on, she followed, arriving the same time as Shane-who threw her a rifle and then started handing them out to the others.

"Time to grow up!" He announced, and Jupiter frowned, keeping her gun pointed down, afraid of accidentally shooting someone. She'd never held one before, and she wasn't completely comfortable with it. Especially when she heard what Shane was planning. He wanted them to take out the barn full of walkers, and Rick wasn't there to tell them otherwise, meaning everyone was likely to listen to him.

Lori stepped in when Shane tried to give Carl a gun, and Jupiter was just about to go to her aid when T-Dog swore and everyone turned around to see what he was on about. When they saw, Shane truly lost it, dropping the gun on the dirt and starting running towards Rick, Jimmy and Hershel, who were herding two walkers towards the barn. Everyone chased Shane, though only Jupiter managed to keep up with him, and for a second she debated tackling him to stop him from doing whatever he was about to. Her ribs made her hesitate, knowing how excruciating it would be to land on them again, and in the end she couldn't bring herself to do it, instead just keeping up with him and knowing she was there, and armed, should he take things too far.

When they reached the others, Rick yelled at Shane to stay back, but as usual Shane did what he wanted and completely ignored Rick, screaming at his best friend before taking out his gun. At that point, Jupiter had flashbacks to the woods by Atlanta and quickly had her own gun up, pointing it at Shane. Shane didn't notice and instead shot the walker Hershel was holding onto, screaming about how if it was alive and still a person, it wouldn't still be coming at him after those shots. 

Everyone else was backing up as Shane lost it, but Jupiter stayed where she was, breathing evenly as she stared into her scope, aiming for Shane's back. She'd have aimed for his head, but as she never fired a gun before she wanted a bigger target to hit. The second he turned his gun on anything that wasn't dead, he was getting a bullet of his own right between the shoulder blades.

But he didn't aim it at anyone living, and instead started yelling at the others as he walked over to the barn. She only just realised what he was going to do a second before he did it and it was too late to stop him. Using a pickaxe, he pulled the lock from the door and then lifted the wooden plank away so the doors would open, retreating with his gun drawn, waiting for the walkers to come out. After a second they did, and the group was forced to open fire or else die.

So Jupiter took aim with the others, backing away as she shot at the walkers, trying hard to block out the sounds of Hershel's family screaming as their family was shot in front of them. Dead or not, she knew it was hard on them, especially when they believed they could be cured. But Jupiter knew different, and even if they'd hate her for it later, she couldn't let the walkers reach the Greene family.

When the shots finally stopped, Jupiter's ears were ringing, but she could still hear the sobs from the family behind her. A dozen or so walkers lay dead on the ground in front of them, who knew how many of them had been family, friends, or neighbours? Now they were nothing more than a pile of rotting corpses, piled on top of each other on the ground.

Jupiter lowed her gun and turned around, seeing the devastation on people's faces, including Rick's, and the self righteous look on Shane's. She'd had enough of him and was just about to throw her gun down and punch his across the jaw when the sound reached her ears and she turned back to the barn, her gun once again raised. There was one left.

She watched the doors, waiting for it to come out, just wanting it to be done, but then the walker stepped into the light, and her gun clattered to the floor. The others had similar reactions, none of them able to move or raise their guns for the final walker. It was only Carol who snapped out of it, running forward, crying her daughters name. Daryl stopped her, holding on to her even as she fell to the ground, still reaching for the little girl in front of her.

But that little girl wasn't Sophia. Sophia was long dead, and the thing in front of them was just a shell left behind and given a new life. A life meant to destroy and consume... Sophia was dead, and had been for a long time, the wound on her neck showing where a walker had got her, probably on that very first day...

They all watched as she walked towards them, snarling and snapping as she looked between them, stepping over the dead bodies of the other walkers. It moved slowly, and no one moved. No one could face up to the fact that Sophia was truly gone, and had been this entire time. Everyone had wanted her to be ok so bad, and the cruel reality check left them all in shock. But still the walker came closer, and someone had to do something soon. Choking on a sob, Jupiter took a shakey step forward, lifting her knife from its sheath in one quick movement. Rick had started moving forwards with his gun, but when he saw Jupiter moving, he stopped, watching her as the others did.

Seeing her moving forward, Sophia's eyes locked onto Jupiter and she snapped in her direction, coming for her slowly. The tears were freefalling from Jupiter's eyes now, but she couldn't back out of it now. Not in front of everyone, and especially not in front of Carol. She needed to end it, for everyone's sake. So she quickly dragged her hand across her eyes, clearing her blurry vision as she took her final steadying breath and then squared her shoulders, closing the gap between her and the little girl.

She moved fast, wrapping her arm around the girl's shoulders in the same second that her other hand drove her knife through her brain, killing the walker but catching her as she fell, helping her softly to the ground. There she looked down into the face of the little girl she'd so believed she was going to help bring back alive and closed her eyes, hating the cruel irony of the situation.

She'd been right that morning in knowing that they'd find Sophia that day. She just wished they'd found her alive.


	9. Nebraska/Trigger Finger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Finally some Daryl/Jupiter fluff for you all :)

Jupiter zoned out, sitting there beside Sophia's body, her blood covering Jupiter's hands and knife. She was vaguely aware of the sounds of people crying around her, but she just stared at her hands and said nothing, unable to even if she wanted to. All that time they'd spent looking for Sophia, when she'd been 100 meters from their camp the whole time. She and Daryl had both almost died... All for nothing.

So she just sat there, not even moving when Beth was almost eaten by her walker mother, barely six foot from her. Nothing felt real any more, except the fact that she'd just killed the little girl she'd been praying so hard to find. She knew she was a walker, but that didn't make it feel any better. She'd never killed one she knew before... She was unsure of what to do, but then after a while, feeling returned to her numb body and she realised that her hands were freezing and the wind had picked up. Andrea was standing over her with a blanket, and draped it over Sophia's body before helping Jupiter to her feet.

She was slowly coming back to herself and looked around, seeing most of the others had gone somewhere, even Carol and Daryl, the two of whom she found when Andrea tried leading her back to her tent, but she pulled away when she saw Carol in the RV, Daryl inside by the door. She walked inside without a word, and Carol turned to her. The expression on her face broke Jupiter's heart all over again. She tried for a small smile, looking like she wanted to comfort Jupiter- like she was the one who one who needed it. Words failed her, and so instead of sitting in there and letting her emotions get the best of her, Jupiter took Carol's hand on the table, giving it a quick squeeze before heading out of the door, grabbing her bat on the way.

Now that she wasn't numb, Jupiter could feel the anger in her, burning like a fire on every inch of her, inside and out. She had to work it out, and let the fire burn through her, and channel it into something or else risk burning up completely. So with her bat in hand, she stalked across the fields and headed into the woods.

She made sure she was a fair distance away from the farm before she started screaming. She screamed for Sophia, for having lost her after everything and against her belief, she screamed for Alaska, knowing that she might never find her friend alive, but most of all the screamed for the new world they lived in. The world where little girls didn't get to be found and brought home safe to their mothers, and they died alone in the woods; where kids couldn't be kids because letting your guard down for even a second can get you killed. That's what she screamed for, and when the walkers came, those were the thoughts that kept her swinging her bat until every one of them was dead. Then when she was panting, on her knees among the bodies of the dead, she got up and kept going, the fury in her bones demanding more.

It was night when she eventually stumbled back to the farm, her body exhausted and covered in walker blood, and her breathing uneven and rasping. She moved towards a light through the trees, what looked like a camp fire, but she was still a way away from the farm house and camp, so she moved quieter, wondering if someone new had stumbled onto their land. Someone who might be dangerous... She could barely even lift her bat as she was so exhausted, but if she was quiet, she wouldn't need to be fast. She just had to keep to the shadows.

A stick snapped underfoot.

Shit... She thought, seeing the person beside the fire stand up, grabbing a weapon from beside them and looking her way.

"Who's there?" They demanded, and Jupiter sighed and lowered her bat. It was just Daryl.

"It's me," she called as she walked out, and Daryl lowered his crossbow but didn't sit down, and when she stepped into the light he swore and took a step forward.

"What the hell happened to you? You bit?" He demanded, but she just shook her head and held up a hand to stop him coming any closer.

"I'm fine. Its not my blood."

She didn't need to say anything else as Daryl looked to have figured it out by himself. Instead of sitting back down like she had expected, he yelled at her. "Are you stupid or something? Going off into the woods alone like that! You could have died! You got a death wish or something?" He yelled, getting in her face and gesturing wildly with his hands. She flinched back a little, hating herself for doing it, but yelling back at him before she could think about it.

"I needed to blow off some stream! You think it was easy killing that little girl? You think I'm ever gonna be able to stop feeling her blood on my hands? I needed a distraction, so I found one!" She snarled, not backing away. Daryl scoffed and walked away a few steps, breathing heavily before he turned back around, his eyes glowing in the light from the fire.

"What if you'd been swarmed? What would you have done then? That bat ain't gonna do shit against a load of them!"

This time she didn't yell back, and instead spoke from behind her teeth, glaring at him and clenching her fists to stop herself from doing anything rash. "I'd handle it!"

"Yeah, and how would you manage that? You're injured, so you can't fight back so well. You're ribs mean you can't run or climb. So how exactly would you do that?!" Jupiter stayed silent, so Daryl continued, once again coming closer and sticking his face near hers. "Did you even think about how the group'd deal if you died? We already lost Sophia, I can't lose you too!" He yelled, but Jupiter froze. He'd just said that he couldn't lose her too... Not we can't. Did he really give a damn about her? 

She didn't want to think about it. Didn't let herself. She'd been shoving down her growing feelings towards him for a while now, knowing it would never work as they had more important things to be thinking about. They had to survive. Romance was the bottom of her list of priorities, much as her heart tried to tell her otherwise. So why did Daryl have to say that then and give her heart stupid ideas? But maybe he didn't mean it in that way. Maybe he just meant she was a friend and it'd suck to lose her...

The silence stretched on between them for a few seconds, and Jupiter became very aware of how close they were standing to each other. If Daryl did mean it in anyway other than friendship, it would be so easy for him to just close the gap between their mouths and show her. She couldn't help it as her eyes flicked from his eyes to his lips and then back up again, half of her hoping that he'd do it, and the other half telling her to not be so stupid. The half that was hoping he would, was winning out, and her breath caught when he moved closer. 

Suddenly he growled and pulled away, turning his back on her and striding over to the fire, his breathing fast and his hands clenched into fists at his side. "Get out of here!" He snapped when she came closer, and she stopped. Saying nothing, she turned from him and walked away, her face still burning by the time she got back to her tent and walked inside.

Instead of collapsing straight into bed like she wanted to, she carefully peeled off her clothes and dumped them on the floor in the corner of the tent, doubling over in a coughing fit when she had to lift her arms over her head to take her tee off. Her ribs were giving her a lot of trouble, and for some reason they only seemed to be getting worse, and her whole chest was aching. Fighting off so many walkers probably hadn't been the brightest idea, but she was gonna make up for it and stay in bed for a few days to heal.

She was too sore to worry about struggling with getting dressed for bed, so she climbed into her cot with nothing on and crawled into her sleeping bag, laying on her back as it was the only semi-comfortable way to sleep. Despite her lack of clothes, she was still slightly too hot and couldn't sleep for a while. Of course as she lay awake in bed, all she could think about was how much of a fool she must have looked to Daryl. She'd thought he was going to kiss her. By his reaction, she had clearly read the situation wrong, and now it was likely to be awkward with him for a while. Which was just wonderful, as she'd been fighting her feelings for that very reason. Still, they'd get on with it. They had to if they wanted to survive. That was the only thought that gave her any comfort as she fell asleep.

It didn't even feel like she'd been sleeping by the time the sun came up, and she was just as exhausted and sore. She didn't have anywhere to go though, so she didn't bother getting out of bed, determined to stay and relax for a while, try and give her ribs and chest some rest. Of course, it wasn't meant to be, and after laying in bed for an hour, staring at the top of her tent, a shadow stopped outside and called out to her.

"Jupiter... You in there?" 

It was Andrea.

"Yeah," she called back. "Just killing time. You need something?" 

Andrea unzipped the tent and walked inside, looking down at Jupiter still in bed, and she frowned. "I was gonna say we're heading out to look for the others. They went out yesterday and haven't come back. We could use an extra hand, but honey you look like shit..." She went to walk out, but Jupiter sat up quickly, wincing a little and struggling not to cough again as she objected.

"No, no. I'm fine. Didn't get much sleep... But I'll come. Give me five minutes to get dressed?"

Andrea paused, watching her carefully for a few moments, but then seemed convinced and nodded, leaving the tent so Jupiter could get dressed.

When she was alone, she crawled out of her sleeping bag and stood up, pulling on fresh clothes as fast as she could and then sitting down to pull her boots on. When she was done, she strapped on her knife and then grabbed her bat and went out to find the others gathered around the truck, throwing weapons and supplies into the back. Daryl was standing there, his crossbow over his shoulder. He didn't look up as she came over and she tried not to think about how awkward it was between them now, and instead looked down at the map he had in front of him, about to look up and ask Shane where they'd be starting, but as she did so she noticed a car returning to the farm and pointed it out to the others. It was Rick, Glenn and Hershel, safe and in no need of rescue.

Shane ran to the car as it pulled up, and the others followed behind, seeing as the three men got out of the car, intercepted by their families. Jupiter hung back a little, her head spinning and making her want to puke, but she ignored it and squeezed her eyes shut, bracing her hands on her knees as she tried to pull in some deep breaths and make the dizziness pass. After a few moments it worked, but the headache wouldn't go away, and it was pounding bad enough that she could barely focus on anything anyone was saying.

The others had brought someone back with them, and he needed surgery. Rick called everyone else into the house for a meeting to discuss what to do with him, while Hershel and Patricia went to the barn for surgery. That was all she figured out as she followed the others into the house, and leaning against a wall in the dining room while they waited for everyone to arrive. Once they had, it came as no surprise that Shane was causing trouble, wanting to kill the guy they'd rescued. Rick disagreed, voting to wait until the boy healed and then take him somewhere and leave him with some water. Jupiter agreed with Rick, but her head was spinning too much for her to say so, knowing she wasn't up for arguing with Shane again. She was too hot in the room, and becoming nauseated, needing to go and get some fresh air, but then the door opened and cool air kissed her skin.

She looked up and saw that Daryl had joined them, nodding his greeting at her before looking away. She watched him for a few seconds, finally figuring out why he was in such a foul mood. He blamed himself for Sophia, and the guilt was eating him up inside.

She wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault, but Rick and Shane were still arguing, so she said nothing, deciding to wait until they were outside and alone. It wasn't his fault, and everyone knew that except for him.

As soon as they started leaving though, Daryl stomped off, faster than Jupiter could stop him, so she was forced to run after him, unable to catch up to him until he was almost at his tent. Her head was spinning as she headed after him, but she ignored it and shouted after him. "Daryl! Stop walking away from me and goddamn listen! It wasn't your fault! Sophia was dead long before you even started looking for her, and you can't blame yourself!"

He whirled around quickly, angrier than Juniper had ever seen him, but he didn't even respond to what she'd said, and instead just snarled. "Get the hell away from my tent! Go back to the others!"

Juniper knew he wasn't joking around, and as much as she wanted to smack him for being so hard on himself, her head was causing her some real pain and she could taste pennies on her tongue. Something was wrong, and she didn't have the strength to argue with Daryl anymore, so she turned on her heel without a word.

Daryl watched her leave, feeling surprised that she hadn't put up more of a fight, but also feeling guilty for yelling at her. He knew she could take it, but that didn't stop him from feeling bad about it. 

Maybe that was why he watched her walk away, or maybe it was because he had seen that something was wrong, but either way, it was a good thing he kept his eyes on her. She made it barely 10ft before her legs gave out and she collapsed into the grass, not moving.

He was moving before he had even registered what had happened, skidding to his knees beside Jupiter, his quick eyes checking for a wound, probably from a bullet, though he'd heard no shot. But she was fine, not a scratch on her. So why was she so still?

He screamed towards the house, yelling for someone to get the doc, and he saw someone run inside while Rick and some of the others started running for him, their weapons drawn as they scanned the trees for any threat. But there wasn't one. Juniper wasn't injured, she just wasn't waking up.

Her skin was hot to the touch and her breathing was shallow, her face flushed despite the unusually cool day. What the hell was wrong with her?

"Jupe! Wake up! Come on, girl!" He growled at his unconscious friend, his heart galloping so fast that his hands shook as they hovered over her, not daring to touch in case he hurt her somehow.

"What happened?" Rick demanded as he reached them, his eyes on the trees and his gun out. Daryl didn't have an answer for him, and for the first time in a lot of years, he felt helpless. Something had happened and he had no idea what to do.

"She just dropped!"

Rick looked down at the woman lying in his friend's arms and his face turned grim. "Check her for bites," he ordered, able to see the flushed and clammy skin.

Daryl froze, his mind unable to contemplate that she might have been bitten. That he might lose her, and his final words to her would have been spitting for her to leave him alone. What if she never woke up again? What if those had been his last words to her, and he never got to apologise for that or the night before? Rick snapped him out of it by yelling. "Daryl! She needs you right now! Check her for bites!"

So he did, feeling like his heart had imploded when he found none. She wasn't infected.

As soon as he told Rick, Rick reached for her, looking back to the farm where Hershall was coming out of the door, hurrying towards them. "We need to get her inside!" He ordered, going to take her from Daryl's arms, but Daryl practically growled at his friend and tightened his grip on Jupiter as he got to his feet and started running back towards the farm. Jupiter still didn't move or make a sound, except for that awful rattling breathing, scaring him shitless as he was sure every second would be her last.

But then they reached Hershall, who yelled for Maggie to get his stuff before leading Daryl quickly into the house, holding the door open for him and then gesturing to the room Carl had been in when he got shot. A thought that wasn't all that great to Daryl, as clearly the doc thought it was serious.

Still, he lay Jupiter down on the bed gently and then stepped back while Hershall and his daughters quickly messed around with her, checking various things, and then Hershall started questioning Daryl.

"Has she been complaining about any pain recently? Or taken any meds? What about Water? Has she been drinking enough?" He asked, and Daryl answered as best he could, though he was frustrated at how little he did know. His anger had kept her at bay, and now he couldn't help her. If anything happened to her... He growled and shook his head, trying to clear the possibility of any of it happening. Jupiter was going to be fine. She had to be.

It took around ten excruciating minutes for Hershall to decide what had caused Jupiter to collapse like she had.

"She's got pneumonia. She needs antibiotics, and fluids, and to rest. I'm surprised she lasted so long before collapsing. She must have been in pain for a few days, though her broken ribs would have masked it... Not to mention cause it. Who let her bind her ribs like this?" he took a breath and lay a hand on her forehead while Maggie cut away the bandages around her ribs. "Her temperature is through the roof and needs to be cooled down." He got to his feet while Patricia hooked Jupiter to an IV bag. "But good news? She'd all right. She bound her broken ribs and couldn't breathe properly... that's all that caused this. She'll wake up when she's ready, and when she does, she's going to need to take it easy for a few days until she recovers, or else she'll get worse."

Daryl nodded. It was not going to happen again, not while he was still breathing. She'd scared him half to death, though now that he knew she was going to be all right, he began to relax somewhat. He still couldn't find words though, and the people gathered at the door understood, all but Rick leaving as Hershel whispered something to him on the way passed.

Daryl moved closer to Jupiter's still form, unable to keep his eyes from her face, so peaceful in sleep, but a hint of pain there too. She had been suffering, chasing him across the fields, yet she'd still done it- scared that he felt like shit. If he had before, it had nothing on how he felt then. He'd lost too many people, and the thought of losing her too... It was unbearable.

Rick came to stand beside Daryl, resting his hand on his shoulder and squeezing. "She's all right. It was just a little scare. You did good."

Still Daryl said nothing, and Rick got the point and left. Patricia returned with a bowl of cool water and a cloth, but before she was even in the room completely, Daryl was nodding his head at the bowl, claiming the task, and she left again, closing the door behind her.

Now that they were truly alone, Daryl felt his composure slip, and his own legs gave out as he moved to her side. He kneeled beside her, and looked at her face, thankful that she hadn't been bitten. She was going to be ok. He just had to look after her and make sure she didn't do this to herself again. So he got up and sat on the edge of the bed, dipping the cloth into the water and wringing it out before gently wiping her face with it, cooling her skin down.

She didn't react to the temperature, and his heart stuttered again.

"You scared me, Jupe. When you fell... Man, I thought you were gone..." He exhaled shakily, looking down for a few seconds as he composed himself again. "Please don't ever do that again," he whispered when he looked back up. Jupiter gave no response, but that was ok. She was going to be ok, because he was going to make her be.

When her skin had returned to a more normal temperature, he put the cloth back in the bowl and then looked down at his friend. She didn't look comfortable, and he knew she'd have a bitch fit when she woke up if she found herself in shoes. She'd told him about it on one of their outings together. Being as gentle as he could, he carefully removed her boots, leaving them at the end of the bed and then returning to her side, sitting in the chair beside the bed and not even thinking about it as he reached out and took her hand, squeezing it in his larger one as he sat back and waited for her to wake up.

It was hours later when that actually happened, the slight moan escaping her lips being the only indication Daryl got that woke him from his sleep. His hand was still holding Jupiter's, so when her fingers twitched, he felt it and moved closer.

"Jupiter? You awake?" He whispered, conscious of the late hour and the others sleeping in the house. All he got was a pain filled moan in reply, and Jupiter opened her eyes. Only she didn't see Daryl. She was in so much pain and her temperature so high that she was hallucinating, and she started screaming as the walkers lunged for her face.

Daryl had never seen her that scared before. Not when she thought she was gonna die in the CDC, and not when she hid from a herd of walkers. She'd always masked her emotions with sarcasm and anger, but now there was no filter and her face drained of all colour as she screamed and lashed out.

He tried to calm her down, talking to her, but she just screamed and screamed, her eyes open but unseeing.

The door banged open and Hershel and Rick charged in, looking for the danger but only finding Daryl trying to calm Jupiter down.

"HELP HER!" He yelled at the sight of the doctor, panic evident in his pale blue eyes.

But Hershel couldn't help. "She's hallucinating. She can't hear us. She's just gotta work through it..."

Daryl was not happy with that answer. "Can't you sedate her or something?" He cried, the sound of Juniper's screams and whimpers fraying his nerves as he was powerless to save her from her invisible enemies.

"We can't give her any more medication. Not-"

Daryl growled and turned away, returning to Jupiter and taking her hand, sitting on the bed with her and pulling her up and into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered into her ear, repeating all the stories she'd told him of her home, and telling her that she was safe, he had her.

It took a while, but gradually Jupiter stopped screaming and thrashing around, instead settling back into Daryl's arms and whimpering quietly. But she was coming out of it, and her hand had closed around Daryl's, holding onto him like he was the only thing she knew was real. Which was exactly what she was feeling.

The walkers looked and sounded real, but when they touched her, she felt nothing. Daryl's hold on her though, that was real, she could tell the difference... and she was thankful for it.

"D...Daryl," she gasped. Daryl's grip tightened.

"I'm right here. Right here girl. I got you."

He stroked her hair back off her clammy forehead, feeling her relax again, and a few seconds later, her breathing levelled out and she passed out again.

When he looked up, he found that Hershel and Rick had already gone.  
Xxxxxxx

The next morning Jupiter woke up to find Daryl asleep in the chair beside her, his hand closed around hers.

Her head was pounding and her lips were dry, but she didn't want to move and wake Daryl. Not when he looked so exhausted.

The window was open and she could hear the sounds of the morning outside, so she listened to them for a while, drifting in and out of consciousness.

She had just closed her eyes again when Daryl suddenly gave a jerk, his hand tightening on hers for a second before he seemed to wake up for real and then relaxed. Jupiter watched him, seeing as his eyes moved from the room to her face, widening when they saw that she was awake.

"How you feeling?" He asked, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. Jupiter couldn't even muster a smile, and so instead opted for honesty.

"Like shit," she croaked, and he looked up at her, his hand pausing. "Everything hurts," she moaned, closing her eyes again.

Daryl moved to sit on the bed beside her and reached out, placing his hand on her forehead, and taking her temperature. She was still too hot, but she'd cooled down a little, and the fact that she was actually conscious was a bonus.

"You scared the shit out of me... Passing out like that. I thought..." He trailed off but then Jupiter's gaze caught his and he sighed, pulling his hand back and looking down. "You just scared me is all."

Jupiter tried for a smile, though she suspected it was more of a grimace. "Gee Dixon, I didn't know you cared," she laughed, but choked on it, groaning as her stomach muscles spasmed and she curled up with a moan. When she recovered some, she found Daryl staring at her, tapping his fingers on his knee.

"That really what you think? That I don't care?" He asked, hurt and guilt flashing in his eyes. Jupiter shrugged and looked away, not really wanting to think about it at that moment in time, especially after the events of the near kiss. She was still in pain, and she suspected that that was the only reason Daryl was with her. So she avoided his question and tried to sit up, groaning as she did so, and needing to hold onto the bedside table to stop her head from swimming.

Daryl was at her side in an instant, his arms moving around her without hesitation and helping her to sit up, though he frowned at her and told her she needed to lay back down. When she tried to laugh him off, he shook his head. "I'm damn serious, Jupiter. You need to relax for a few days. Doc's orders!" He insisted, his face completely serious, so Jupiter did as she was told and lay back down, secretly thankful.

She was still in a lot of pain, and it wasn't that much better when she lay down, but at least it took some of the pressure off her ribs, and her head didn't swim. Even though she was laying down again, Daryl didn't back off, and stayed sitting on the bed next to her, looking at him hands. He looked like he was about to say something when the door opened and Hershel came in, quickly followed by Rick. When Hershel say that she was awake, he gave her a small smile, reminding her so much of her grandfather that she suddenly felt more at ease.

"Why is it every time I see you, you're unconscious or injured?" He asked, and Jupiter gave him a crooked smile in return, shrugging her shoulders a little. Hershel raised his eyebrows and came to sit on the bed on her other side, while Rick leaned in the doorway, watching. "How're you feeling? On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain, 10 being the highest you can imagine?"

She debated lying, but she glanced at Daryl and knew he'd know, so she sighed lightly and then answered truthfully. "About a seven."

Hershel nodded and then requested permission to listen to her heart, and when she nodded, he put the stethoscope on her lungs first, ordering her to take a few deep breaths, which she winced at, but then Daryl took her hand again and she looked at him, her heart speeding up a little. Hershel chuckled, and she was mortified to realise that he'd heard it. She prayed he wouldn't say anything, and he gave her a look as if to say your secret is safe with me, and then stood up.

"You're gonna need to stay in bed for a few days, and I'm gonna keep you on the IV till tonight, and we'll see how you're doing then. In the mean time, Patricia will bring you medication every few hours, and it might make you drowsy. It's nothing to worry about, but try not to get out of bed if you can help it, especially if you're by yourself in here..."

Jupiter nodded, mentally groaning, but the doc gave her another smile and then left the room, Rick following close behind and closing the door behind him, leaving Jupiter alone with Daryl once more. He was still holding her hand, so she squeezed his gently to get him to look at her.

"I'm sorry to bring it up again, but I meant what I said... Sophia was no your fault, not even a little bit. So I need you to stop feeling guilty about it. It was no ones fault. Sometimes things just happen because they're meant to. We don't always have to know why. OK?" She tried, and Daryl stared at her for a few seconds before reluctantly nodding.

Pleased with herself, Jupiter smiled and shifted into a more comfortable position. "Good. Now that's settled... You don't have to stay here with me. I'll be fine, and you've probably got better things to be doing than babysi-What are you doing?" She asked as Daryl put a hand on the side of her face and rolled his eyes as he leaned down towards her, stopping when his nose was almost touching her own.

"Shut up, Jupiter..." She couldn't even protest at him telling her to shut up as he finally closed the gap between their mouths and kissed her gently, his thumb lightly running over her cheek. It was over before she could even get over the fact that it had happened in the first place, her heart still racing and her face flushed as he moved back slightly and then kissed her forehead. "I ain't going anywhere."


	10. 18 Miles Out

After Daryl kissed Jupiter, things started to change between them, and for the better. She had to spend a whole week in bed, during which time Daryl would come in and talk to her, telling her about what she was missing from her room. Mainly it was that the guy Rick, Shane and Hershel had brought back from town- Randall- was healing up and soon Rick and Shane would be driving him 20 miles away and leaving him so he couldn't find them again. Daryl agreed it was a good idea, but said that Shane wanted to just kill him. Jupiter wasn't surprised and decided to tell Daryl about what she'd seen in the woods that day, when Shane had pointed a gun at Rick's head, and how she'd told Shane that she knew, which was why the two of them didn't get along. Daryl listened, a frown on his face.

"Do you really think he'd go through with it? Kill Rick? I mean, those two are like brothers..."

Jupiter shrugged, pretty sure he would, but not sure enough to make something out of it if she was wrong. Still, at least Daryl was aware, so she wasn't the only one keeping an eye on Shane. Though she'd noticed Dale wasn't in the Shane fan-club either, though she suspected that had something to do with Andrea, and the way she followed Shane around like a love struck school girl.

It was painful to watch, especially when Shane was obviously in love with Rick's wife, who had clearly been involved at some point, which was obvious every time they looked at each other. They had the look of two people who had seen each other naked, but while Lori looked like she regretted it, Shane did not, and it was creepy as hell. He was probably deranged enough to kill Rick and think that entitled him to Rick's family...

She didn't want to think about it any more, so she changed the subject, talking instead about how she couldn't wait to be let out of that bed and back outside into the fresh air. She was going crazy in that room, even if Daryl did spend most of his time with her. He still got to go out for a few hours to keep watch for walkers, though he always returned after and slept beside Jupiter, holding her hand in the space between them as he was too afraid to accidentally hurt her ribs in the night, even if Jupiter said they were fine. It was a lie, and they still hurt, but not nearly as much as before, and she could sit up by herself again. Hershel had told her one more night and then she could go back to sleeping in her tent, and return to normal activities, so she was excited that night.

"As soon as I'm out of here, I'm going for a run. All the way around Hershel's land..." She grinned as she leaned into Daryl's side, tracing the path on the back of his hand with her fingers. Daryl pulled a face that she felt more than saw.

"Why would you run when something isn't chasing you?" He asked, and she smirked and turned her head to look at him, seeing the slight smile on his face and knowing he was messing with her. Still, she knew he hated running. He'd mentioned it a few days before. She wasn't surprised. It kinda killed the fun in running when you had to do it in life and death situations all the time. Not for Jupiter though. Running had always been one of her favourite hobbies, and the reason why she'd survived in that first week before the people from the hospital found her. She was fast and she was fit, so she could outrun the walkers. Cars? Not so much- which was the only reason she'd been caught in the first place.

That was another thing she didn't want to think about, so she picked up Daryl's hand to distract herself, turning it over and running her fingers down his life line and then over his whole palm, feeling how it was calloused in all the places where a knife would rest. His hands told a story, and it was a story of a fighter, even before the world ended. She held up her free hand beside his, noticing the differences. Her hands weren't exactly soft, but they were more so than his, though she bore almost as many scars on hers as he did. Most of them from before, though the newest scar across her middle knuckle was from fighting her way out of the hospital, and it still had yet to fade to white.

Daryl ran his hand over hers and entwined their fingers as he yawned, carefully putting his left arm around her and holding her close. It had only been a week since he kissed her, and the two of them weren't completely sure of what they were yet, so they were taking it slow. Not that either of them minded. It was nice to be able to just sit in someone's arms and feel completely safe for once, knowing they weren't as alone as they thought.

Of course being able to kiss Daryl whenever she wanted was a bonus, she thought with a smile, turning to do just that before she lay down for her final night in that house. She kissed him slowly, her hand brushing his fringe back from his face gently, and his hands moving to her hips, his fingertips just brushing beneath her shirt, spreading goosebumps along her skin. As of yet, he hadn't failed to take her breath away every time they kissed, and he knew it.

There was a knock at the door and the two of them turned to it as it opened and saw Patricia coming in to give Jupiter her final dose of medication. Jupiter took it without complaint, knowing that when she woke up in the morning, she'd be free. Of course it also meant she only had another few minutes with Daryl as she would be out cold in a few moments. Daryl wasn't going anywhere though, he'd been on his watch already, so he'd stay with her for the night. Which was exactly what he did, laying awake for a few hours longer than her, watching her sleep.

He chuckled at the sight of her sleeping, her face scrunched into a scowl, as if she was daring anyone to wake her up. Not that it was possible after she'd had medication. He was pretty sure that a walker pack charging through the house wouldn't wake her up after meds, which was half of the reason he stayed with her at night. He'd known something was going on between Jupiter and Shane already, but now Jupiter had said exactly what it was, he was gonna make extra sure he had her back. Shane was dangerous.

Jupiter was getting stronger again though, and soon she'd be able to fight her own battles again, not that she'd ever stand for anyone else doing it anyway, but Daryl felt better knowing he had her back. Of course he'd already had her back before the two of them decided to be more than just friends- a fact which he was still amazed at. Jupiter wanted him back? Jupiter, who was brilliant, beautiful, and resourceful... He couldn't wrap his head around it. He was just a drifter, not worth a second glance. But Jupiter had yet to look away, and he doubted he'd ever get over that fact. He didn't deserve her.

That hadn't stopped him from thinking about her though, and he'd been fighting his feelings for her from the beginning. There was just something about her that had called to him right from the start, even though he hadn't been looking for it as he was too busy with the world ending and everything. Not that he regretted it for a second, especially as Jupiter felt the same and he had something worth surviving for.

He brushed her hair off her face and just watched her for a few more moments until there came a knock at the door, and he looked up as it opened and Rick gestured for him to come out. Frowning, Daryl did as he was told, closing the door behind him and then leaning against it with his arms crossed, waiting for Rick to say what he was there for.

"Me and Shane are taking the boy tomorrow. I need you and Jupiter to keep an eye on things round here. Make sure everyone is safe and deal with any problems... There shouldn't be any, and Shane and I are leaving at first light, so should be back soon enough... But I need to know someone capable is in charge..."

Daryl narrowed his eyes and debated arguing that Jupiter was barely back on her feet, but he decided just to nod, figuring that he might as well go on perimeter watch as Jupiter had decided to run around it anyway, so he could keep an eye on her and make sure no walkers or any of Randall's crew wondered onto the farm.

When Rick saw the nod, he sighed in relief, and thanked Daryl. He didn't leave straight away though, and nodded at the closed door behind Daryl.

"You and Jupiter?" He asked, and Daryl just rolled his eyes and went to leave, but Rick just laughed and patted him on the back. "I'm happy for you both. It's good to have someone, and the pair of you are good together."

Daryl nodded again but walked away, back into Jupiter's room, uncomfortable discussing his personal life with Rick. The two of them had warmed up to each other of late, but Daryl wouldn't go as far as saying they were friends yet. Still, he thought about what Rick had said about Jupiter and him with a smile, returning to their bed and laying down beside her. They were good together.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Jupiter woke up early, even before Daryl, and found him facing her with his arm thrown across her stomach, keeping her close. She smiled as she watched him, leaving him rest for a few moments more before leaning over and kissing his lips lightly.

"Daryl..." She whispered, seeing his eyelids flicker as he started to move, sighing as he stretched and then slowly opened his eyes. Damn those eyes, Jupiter thought as she watched him wake up, still smiling as she watched him rejoin the land of consciousness. He blinked a few times and then grunted as he rolled onto his back and stretched again. Jupiter had to suppress a grin. Daryl was like a grumpy two year old for the first few moments after waking up, a fact which she had discovered much to her own glee. Even though she knew he was a dangerous walker killer, excellent hunter, and overall badass, she still found it adorable.

After a few moments Daryl was more awake and sociable, and he rolled back onto his side to see Jupiter already sat up, lacing her converse up with her back to him. He reached out and trailed his fingertips across the bare skin on display between her shirt and shorts as she leaned forward to do her laces. She smiled at his touch but didn't react until he spoke, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"What're you doing?" He asked, looking out at the beginnings of a sunny day and then sitting up himself. Jupiter continued smiling while she laced up her shoes and then turned back to him with a grin.

"I told you. First thing I'm doing today is going for a run!"

Daryl rolled his eyes as he grabbed his jacket from the floor on his side of the bed and pulled it on before standing up and walking around to Jupiter's side, where she was already stood and waiting for him, almost bouncing in place with out of character excitement.

"You sure you ain't still high from those meds the doc gave you?" He asked, but Jupiter just smirked and playfully pushed him before heading for the door. The rest of the farm house was silent, and everyone still in bed, so they were quiet as they went outside, pausing on the porch while Jupiter stretched. One of the cars was missing, but it didn't look like anyone was awake yet, so she pointed it out to Daryl, who explained about Rick and Shane.

That made sense she guessed, putting all thoughts of Shane out of her head so he wouldn't ruin her mood without even being there, and then turned back to Daryl, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before bidding him goodbye and stepping away. Only Daryl grabbed her wrist and stopped her. When she raised her eyebrows at him, he shrugged.

"You think I'm gonna let you go running round alone, when you're still hurt. You might pass out again, or walkers could be near..." He explained, but Jupiter just laughed and shrugged it off instead of being offended. She felt great, and was gonna prove it.

Stepping past Daryl, she patted him on the chest and gave him a cheeky grin. "How're you gonna back me up if you can't keep up?" She teased, watching as Daryl's eyes lit up with the challenge. Before either of them could speak, they both started sprinting towards the trees to make their first loop.

It was great to be running again, and Jupiter didn't stop smiling the whole time, even when her sore foot started to complain and the hint of a stitch nagged her side. She kept running until she knew she was done, and then walked back to the porch on shakey legs, Daryl waiting for her there, having stopped after Jupiter lapped him for the second time. He could have ran for longer, but he was better at running for a long time at a steady pace. Jupiter on the other hand was fast and able to keep going for ages.

When she collapsed onto the steps beside him, he shook his head at her and offered her his water bottle, which she accepted gratefully and downed a few gulps. The water was cool, just like the morning, though the sun would soon burn up the mist lurking around and the others would get up too.

"Are you even human?!" Daryl demanded when Jupiter had got her breath back. She debated leaving him in the dark about why she could run so good, but in the end took pity on him and answered after another long drink of water.

"I ran cross country in school, and never really grew out of it. I did loads of sports during high school and uni, but afterwards, when I moved in with Jake... I didn't have much free time or money, so I just ran every day... And believe me, if you were running through my neighbourhood, you'd get pretty fast too," she joked, and Daryl chuckled. He was leaning new things about Jupiter every day, though he didn't know why he was surprised to learn that she was into sports. Even for a survivor, she was strong and fit, managing to outrun him even with still healing broken ribs, and she'd never had trouble with any walkers yet. She was a force of nature, and Daryl was curious about what else he didn't know about her.

Helping her to her feet, he led her back towards his camp site, listening while she spoke about her life in the old world, and then slowly opening up about his own. He'd never been part of a sports team in school, and had dropped out when he was sixteen, following Merle around ever since. They came from different backgrounds and lives, yet both of them were there, at the end of the world, still holding on and fighting with all they had. They might have been completely different, but one thing they had in common was what they were.

Survivors.


	11. Judge, Jury, Executioner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A pretty short chapter, but I should be making up for it in the next chapter. There's 2 episodes left of series 2, but I might combine them in one long chapter, depending on how it goes. Either way, the next chapter should be more entertaining as Jupiter may act on the decision she makes in this chapter. You'll have to read on to find out though :)

What had started out as a good day had quickly gone downhill when everyone woke up, the main points being when Beth tried to kill herself in her bathroom, aided by Andrea, who had been tasked with keeping an eye on her. Of course Maggie had lost her temper over that one, though she'd managed not to attack Andrea after, something Jupiter wasn't sure she'd have had the restraint to walk away from if it had been one of her little sisters. And then Rick and Shane had arrived back... With Randall.

As soon as they'd climbed out of the car, Jupiter had seen the bruises and cuts on Rick and Shane's faces and knew that Shane had done something, even when the two of them said it was nothing and they'd been attacked by walkers. Shane had that empty look in his eyes again, and Jupiter knew the truth. Why Shane was still breathing was beyond her, but they had bigger problems to deal with. Namely, Randall, who was tied up in the slaughter shed, currently with Daryl who had been tasked with getting him to speak.

Jupiter knew what was likely happening in that shed, and she wasn't overall impressed about it, but at the same time she knew that it had to be done for the good of the group. They needed to know if another group would be coming for Randall, and if so, what they'd be up against. So she waited with the others in their camp, waiting to hear Rick's plan of what they were going to do with Randall. They couldn't let him go because he knew Maggie from before, and if he told others, his group would come for them. That left only a few options, none of which were particularly great. They could kill him or let him join them.

She looked up from the arrow she was making for Daryl when he returned, and immediately noticed the blood on his knuckles. He looked at her and then quickly away, meeting the gaze of Rick, who was waiting to find out what Daryl had learned.

"Boy there's got a gang, 30 men. They have heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead. And our women, they're gonna-- They're gonna wish they were," he explained, and Jupiter's grip on her knife tightened. She wouldn't let that happen, no matter what. She'd already spoke t Daryl about changing her mind about leaving the group to look for Alaska. She'd found her place in the group, and she wasn't going to risk weakening them by her and Daryl leaving to chase ghosts. So her mind was made up. Randall was too dangerous to join the group. He'd have to die.

Clearly Rick agreed as when Lori asked him what they were going to do, he shared a look with Shane and then spoke. "We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat."

Jupiter nodded her agreement, along with some of the others, their faces grim. It was only Dale who spoke up, unbelieving of what he had just witnessed.

"You're just gonna kill him?!"

Rick didn't even blink. "It's settled, I'll do it today."

Dale followed Rick as he walked away, and Jupiter watched the two of them for a second before standing up and following Daryl as he headed back to his own tent on the other end of Hershel's land. She walked with him until they made it to his camp and he sat down. Without saying anything, she kneeled down in front of him and lifted his hands to inspect the cuts on his knuckles.

She could feel his gaze on her as she dropped his hand and reached inside her pack for something to clean them with, but she didn't look up from her work. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet. "You pissed?"

Jupiter shook her head, still not looking up, her mind whirring with hundreds of thoughts. Thoughts about protecting the group, and their odds if it came to a fight... They weren't looking good, but she knew they'd have to think of something. They always did. This time would be no different.

Daryl was still watching her, but he'd gone quiet again, so she finished cleaning his hand and then sat back on her heels and looked at him finally. "You did what you had to. You're protecting the group, and you got the information we needed... I just..." She looked away, feeling stupid all of a sudden, but Daryl was still waiting, so she sighed and stood up, kicking a stone away before looking back at him. "I don't know. Something just feels wrong about this. Randall is dangerous, and I'd kill him myself if I thought it'd keep the group safe. But will it? He's not the only danger to this group." 

There. She said it, and she watched as Daryl sighed and nodded. "I know. But Rick won't see it that way. He knows what Shane is, but he can't see past the guy Shane used to be. He doesn't want to, so what can we do about it?"

Jupiter didn't know, and that's what was bugging her. They were going to kill Randall for the same things Shane had done, yet he still got to stay with the group and help lead them. It didn't seem fair, but killing one of their own? She didn't know if she could stomach that. Especially when it would make her just like Shane if she could.

Shrugging, she picked up her pack and started to walk away, her mind returning to her darkening thoughts. While heading back towards her own tent, she noticed Dale walking towards Daryl, so quickly ducked out of sight and into the trees, not in the mood for an earful from the older guy. She had a lot of thinking to do, as she suddenly felt like she had a huge decision before her, and she needed to be alone with a clear mind.

So she headed into the woods, walking a way she hadn't gone before, until she found a huge tree which she swiftly climbed, settling in high up in the branches. There she sat and thought about what could be done. Daryl was right about Rick, and she knew he'd never agree to kill his friend. Banishment might be an idea, but Shane was crazy, and Jupiter doubted he'd take it well. He'd likely return with vengeance on his mind, and people would die. So that left the other option.

If Shane died, their problems died with him. 

She felt sick knowing that she was even contemplating it, but the more she thought about it, the more she knew that it was the only way. He was a danger to the group, and he'd killed Otis, and tried to kill Rick a few times now. How long until he succeeded? How many others was he going to kill before someone finally said enough? How long would Jupiter be able to keep her mouth shut? Until it was someone closer to home that didn't make it back from a mission with Shane? Until it was Daryl who 'sacrificed himself' to get Shane back? Or would it already be too late for her then? Shane knew Jupiter would never accept his authority, so she would just be another sacrifice to him.

Suddenly her options didn't seem so hard, and her mind cleared as she realised what she'd have to do.

She was gonna kill Shane.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She'd wandered further than she thought, and it was dark by the time she recognised where she was and managed to head back to the farm. She'd missed the vote and the guy was probably dead already. That just left one problem then, in the form of Shane. She'd decided what she was going to do, but she couldn't tell anyone, not even Daryl. She would be the one to kill Shane, that night. She'd wait until everyone was in bed and then kill him in his sleep, more humane than he deserved, but Jupiter knew she'd back out if she didn't do it that way, and Shane had to die. It was the only way she could keep the group safe.

Of course, she'd tell them afterwards, and accept the consequences for her actions. She'd probably be kicked out of the group, as they wouldn't want a murderer living among them. Which is exactly what she would be. Murderer was a stamp she'd never wash from her soul once she killed Shane, but that was just something she'd have to live with. The group had saved Jupiter by taking her in and saving her when she needed it, so she would return the favour, no matter the cost.

She couldn't lie to herself though. The thought of taking another person's life was terrible to her, even though she'd come close before with Gorman. Had she not been trying to escape and was in danger of being caught, she'd have killed him that day to protect the others at the hospital and make sure he never touched another person in there. Shane wouldn't be the same. Not quite. Though she'd still be killing him to protect others.

She reached the edge of the trees just as the screaming started. Her bat was in her hand in a second, and she was running towards the screams. It was a man screaming, but she couldn't be sure who, and she couldn't see anything or pinpoint the screams until someone suddenly stood up with their back to her and started waving their arms towards the house, calling for help. She changed direction and ran towards them, slowing to a stop when she saw what had happened. 

There was a dead walker behind Daryl, who was leaning over Dale, telling him to hold on. At first Jupiter couldn't see the problem with Dale, but then she moved to his side and Daryl was no longer blocking the wound from sight. The walker had torn into Dale's abdomen, and Jupiter knew without Hershel's confirmation that Dale wasn't going to make it.

She kneeled down at his side and took his bloody hand, trying to comfort him while the others finally joined them, screaming and crying while Rick screamed for Hershel.

Andrea fell to her knees on the other side of Dale and took his other hand, crying as she looked down at her dying friend. "Do something!" She screamed when Hershel joined them, but he could only shake his head, and Rick screamed in frustration and anguish as he was powerless to save his friend.

Meanwhile, Dale was still laying on the ground whimpering, while the others gathered around him, mourning his death while he suffered in front of them. Andrea told Rick to end Dale's suffering, and Rick slowly pulled out his gun, staring at Dale as he slowly lifted it, looking like he was fighting back tears as he tilted his head slightly. Jupiter waited for the shot, still holding Dale's hand and sobbing silently, but it didn't come.

She looked up as Daryl carefully took the gun from Rick and then pointed it at Dale, dropping to one knee beside the dying man and meeting his pleading gaze, begging for him to end it. Daryl took a shuddering breath and then released it, and for a whole second it felt like the world had stopped, waiting for that trigger to be pulled.

"I'm sorry, brother," Daryl whispered, and then pulled the trigger.


	12. Better Angels Beside The Dying Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the end of series 2! YAY FOR THAT!   
> So anyone who's seen series 3 will know that there is a seven month time gap between the end of 2 and beginning of 3, so I may write a few chapters during those seven months, but it depends on how inspired I am.

"Dale could-- could get under your skin. He sure got under mine, because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare and brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us-- The truth... Who we really are. In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group was broken. The best way to honour him is to unbreak it. Set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives... Our safety...our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on... We're gonna do it his way. That is how we honour Dale."

That was the speech Rick gave the next morning when they buried Dale beside Sophia under the trees. It was a quiet event, and somehow sadder than when they'd found the little girl in the barn. Probably because each felt guilty for Dale's death in their own way. It could have been avoided if they'd all listened to him and he hadn't stormed off all upset. If he hadn't been alone, the walker wouldn't have got to him and killed him.

The speech also had Jupiter thinking about her decision to kill Shane. What would Dale have thought of it? For some reason she doubted he would have been happy about it, even if the two men had hated each other, and that was making her doubt if her choice was truly right for the group. They'd already lost Dale, and if she killed Shane, that meant they lost another two people, and it would weaken the group further, and she'd end up being the danger to the group she tried to avoid by killing Shane. So she knew she couldn't go through with it. Not then. She'd just have to keep a close eye on him and make sure he wasn't a threat to the group's survival.

When the service was over, Jupiter, Shane, T-Dog, Andrea, and Daryl split off from the others, having decided that morning to secure the perimeter again, checking the fences and surrounding area to be secure. After the walker had got Dale the night before, Hershel had told Rick's group that they'd be moving into the house in the morning as it was too dangerous to be sleeping in tents now. The walkers would find it easier to get onto the farm now as the creeks were drying up and the swamps hardening, meaning they weren't gonna get stuck in the mud anymore. 

So the five of them would secure the land, while the others moved into the house and boarded up the windows just in case.

Jupiter had barely said a word to anyone all morning, too lost in her own thoughts and guilt, not even to Daryl, who had helped her dig Dale's grave that morning and then stood beside her at the funeral, close enough to touch, but neither of them did. Daryl could see that she was troubled, sitting between him and T-Dog in the truck bed, staring at the coil of barbed wire by her feet. He wanted to ask her what she was thinking about so hard, and help her if he could, but he knew that she liked to work through things alone unless she asked otherwise, so he didn't ask. Still, he wanted to offer some comfort.

No one but Rick knew that the two of them were together yet as they'd not really told anyone, and never really shown that much affection in front of the others. Daryl wasn't sure if Jupiter wanted to keep it quiet, so he took her hand in the space between their legs so no one else could see, squeezing her fingers reassuringly. She snapped out of her daze at his touch, her fingers entwining with his out of instinct as she gave him a smile. It was a real smile, and not a fake one to please everyone, so even if she was shaken, Daryl knew she was going to be all right. When she leaned her head on his shoulder, he was slightly surprised, but didn't question it and instead let go of her hand so he could put his arm around her.

T-Dog looked at them with a small smile, but said nothing as he turned back to watching the trees pass them by, and neither Daryl or Jupiter felt the need to explain themselves to anyone, and instead just enjoyed being close to each other for a few moments longer until the truck started to slow and then come to a stop. Jupiter pulled away and stood up, jumping out of the truck ahead of Daryl and waiting for the others to join her before they set off walking, Shane pulling on the fence every now and again to check it would hold up. Andrea carried the barbed wire, T-Dog held the tools, and Daryl and Jupiter brought up the back, on the lookout for walkers.

They mostly walked in silence, but once they hit the woods, Daryl spoke quietly to them when he found a trail, showing that walkers had been through and gone up to the farm fields. So the five of them went back to the truck and Shane drove them to the field where the walkers were, eating a cow and wandering around. 

Jupiter used her bat, killing two of the walkers while the others took the others down. Once they were dead, they carried the bodies into a pile and then burnt them, not hanging around to watch them burn as they still had the perimeter to check, and any other walkers to kill.

It was afternoon when they finally returned to the house, seeing that most of the downstairs windows had been boarded up, but a few still needed to be done, and the group was still moving their things into the house, so they all jumped out to help, stacking things in the truck bed they'd just vacated. The whole camp was quiet as they worked, but soon enough they had everything done and the truck was driving towards the house, the others walking behind it or heading off to do other tasks.

Rick had ordered watch posts to be built in the barn loft and on the windmill, so Shane and Daryl got on that while the others carried stuff into the house. Jupiter claimed a corner of the living room for herself, unsure of if she should leave Daryl's stuff there too. She stood there for a few moments before deciding what the hell and dumped his stuff with hers, figuring the worst that could happen would be that he moved it when he came in. When she turned away, she found Carol watching her, a small smile on her face. Jupiter blushed deeply, but Carol just laughed and put her hand on Jupiter's arm. "I'm happy for you," she insisted before turning back to her own tasks.

Jupiter returned her smile a little shyly before walking out of the house to gather the rest of everyone's things. When they were done, Jupiter decided to help Jimmy with the last few windows, and then they were done. Daryl had finished with the barn and Shane was almost done with the windmill, so Daryl and Rick were on the porch, looking at a map and talking quietly about their plan to release Randall, as they'd decided against killing him the night before. Daryl saw Jupiter standing by the side of the porch and nodded at her with a flash of a smile before returning to his conversation with Rick. Though when he noticed Shane walking towards Rick, he dumped the map and stood up.

"I'm gonna take a piss," he excused himself, heading towards Jupiter, jogging down the steps and following her around the side of the house, about to ask her what was up when she suddenly turned around and pushed him so his back was against the house, stretching onto her tiptoes to press her lips against his. For a moment he was too surprised to do anything, but then he relaxed and wound his arms around her waist, keeping her close while he leaned into her, their mouths moving together seemingly fast and slow all at the same time. 

His lips were soft, and he tasted like strawberry and cigarettes, even though Jupiter hadn't seen him smoking for a few days, but she quickly stopped caring when Daryl suddenly turned them so her back was against the wall and he was leaning over her. Her hands were wound in his jacket, not letting go even when Daryl pulled back for a breath, his eyes dancing with a mix of emotions. Both of them were breathing heavily and smiling a little, but then Daryl ran his fingertips down Jupiter's bare arms and rested his forehead against hers. "What was that for?" He asked with a faint smile in his voice.

Jupiter sighed and released his jacket, instead running her hands up his front and then around to either side of his neck, where she ran her thumbs over his jaw and met his gaze, the smile gone from her own face as she remembered what she was going to tell him. "Because I wanted to kiss you one last time before I told you something. Something about me that isn't so great..."

Daryl frowned and reached up to take her hands, holding them in the space between them as he took a step back, his eyes darkening. "What do you mean? What's wrong?"

Jupiter looked down for a second while she organised her thoughts, looking back up into Daryl's worried and expectant face as she answered. "I was going to kill Shane." He didn't react, other than blinking, so Jupiter kept talking. "After talking to you, I went for a walk in the woods to think about Randall and how he was going to be killed for being a threat to the group, when that's exactly what Shane is. Rick won't do anything about it, but I couldn't stand the thought of you or any of the others getting killed because of him, so I decided to take matters into my own hands, and I was going to kill him last night... The only reason I didn't was-"

"Dale," Daryl guessed, and Jupiter nodded, looking down at the ground again, waiting for Daryl to pull away from her, or yell at her for thinking about killing someone, but as per usual, he remained silent, which was almost worse. After a moment though, he dropped her hands and reached for her face, tilting her head back so she had to look at him. She did so, seeing that he was staring at her with an intensity that made her stomach churn. She tried to look away, put he didn't let her. "Hey." She forced herself to look at him, and he moved his hand to the side of her neck. "You were trying to keep the group safe. I ain't ever gonna hate you for that. Not ever," he whispered as he pulled her into a hug, and she sighed in relief and disbelief as she put her arms around him.

They stayed that way for a few long seconds, but then Daryl spoke again and released her. "I take it you changed your mind?" He asked, and Jupiter nodded.

"Yeah. With Dale gone, I'd only be weakening the group if I killed Shane, as Rick'd make me leave too... I mean I'd deserve it, but the group needs it's numbers, and if I killed Shane, it would lose three..."

"Four," Daryl corrected, his hands tightening on Jupiter, and she realised what he meant. Her heart swelled some, knowing that he would come with her if she was banished, even if it would never happen now. It was still heart warming to know he had her back no matter what.

Moving forward she kissed him again, this time slower and lightly, interrupted by Rick when he came in search of Daryl, needing to finish planning. The two of them separated, and Rick apologised and walked away again, but Daryl just smiled and gave Jupiter another quick peck on the lips before heading after Rick.

Jupiter watched him go, a smile on her face as she waved him off. "I'll see you in a few hours," She called, and he nodded before turning the corner. When he was out of sight, Jupiter continued smiling, but then realised she had nothing to do until Daryl and Rick got back as everything was done. Making sure she had her knife, she decided to go for a walk in the woods to kill some time and probably walkers.

She'd made it a few miles when she was surprised to hear human voices ahead. Knowing better than to be seen, she ducked down and peered around the tree in front of her, unbelieving of what she saw. Shane and Randall, walking together away from the farm. Rick and Daryl were supposed to be taking Randall far away, so what the hell was Shane doing? Her answer became apparent a moment later when Shane moved quickly behind the bound guy, wrapping his arms around his neck and giving a huge jerk, breaking his neck.

Jupiter couldn't help it as she gasped and shot to her feet, needing to do something. Only it was too late, and now Shane had saw her. He quickly got off the ground and took a step towards her, his dark eyes watching her for any hint of what she was going to do. She debated running, knowing how deadly his aim was though, she didn't want to risk it. So instead she moved closer, her hand on her knife, casually unclipping the strap that made sure it didn't fall out, making it easier for her to grab it quickly if she needed to.

"What are you doing?" She asked, and Shane held his hands up, his eyes wide.

"He got loose. I chased him and tried to catch him, but he came at me... I had to kill him, it was self defence..." He was such a good liar that Jupiter might have been tempted to believe him if it hadn't been for the fact that she'd just seen him attack Randall from behind, while the other guy was completely unaware.

She said nothing though until she was right in front of him, her hand still resting on her knife handle.

"Bullshit," she said at last, watching as the innocent look faded from Shane's face and was replaced with a crazy smile, and he lowered his hands slowly.

"Well, well. Jupiter finally got up the nerve to confront me? All alone I see? Now for a smart girl like you, that was a real dumb move," he taunted, reaching for his gun, but then Jupiter's knife was in her hand and she was pointing it at Shane.

"Showing your hand so soon? You know for such a shit hot cop, that was a real rookie move," she mocked, and Shane's eyes glinted with humour, despite the fact she had a hunting knife pointed at him, and she was more than ready to use it on him. His hand had froze, and she took advantage of her weapon to step closer to him. "Try anything and I will stab you in the face," she threatened as she reached for the front of his pants for his gun. Her eyes never left his, and she grabbed the gun and threw it to the side, leaving her with the only weapon. "Get on your knees," she gestured with her knife, and Shane nodded and slowly sank down.

Faster than she thought possible, his hands reached for her, smacking the knife from her hand and meaning to grab her, but her reactions let her move away in time, even if she had lost the knife. 

Now that it was more of an even fight, Jupiter knew she would have to act quickly and get Shane down as fast as she could. He wasn't playing around, and she knew that if he got the chance, he would kill her. So as he came at her, she ducked aside, grabbing his arm and helping him -face first- into the tree behind her. He hit it hard, and for a second she thought he was going down, but then he turned to her with a mouth full of blood, and a broken nose, and the same menacing grin from before.

"That all you got?!" He roared as he came at her again, this time knowing how fast she was and managing to graze the side of her head with a punch that would have knocked her out if she hadn't turned her head in time. It just dazed her for a couple of seconds, but that was enough and Shane punched her again, knocking her to the ground, where she fought to stay conscious. She felt Shane doing something to her hands, and when she looked down, she saw that he had tied her hands up in front of her.

"What, no clever remarks now?" He spat as he leant over her, straightening to kick her in the side, hard enough that she wondered if her still healing ribs were going to puncture her lungs. She curled up on the ground, taking another two kicks off Shane before he grabbed her roughly by the hair and pulled her up. She screamed and grabbed his hand, struggling to get her feet under her as her scalp screamed in pain. He dragged her up so her back was to a tree and then threw her down hard enough that she cried out against her will. 

He pulled her into a sitting position and smirked in her face. Before he could say anything though, she spat in his face and snarled at him. "Daryl is going to kill you!" And he would. Jupiter could be sure of that as she held her head high and stared her death in the face. He would track them into the woods and when he found them, he would know what happened. "He's gonna put a bolt in your head," she bit, but Shane just looked amused.

"Wait, you and the hunter? That just makes this all the sweeter! That prick has been getting under my skin since the moment he first opened his smart mouth back in our first camp! Watching him suffer is going to be great!" He smirked, his breath washing over Jupiter's face, reeking of blood and making her want to gag. "But you know what? I don't think your precious boyfriend is gonna kill me. Because I'm gonna tell him that Randall did it. That he came at me first, and then took you... By the time they find you, you'll already be walker fodder," he gloated.

Jupiter didn't point out the fact that Daryl already didn't trust Shane, and he'd never believe the two of them had been alone together when something conveniently happened to her. Daryl would never fall for it, and even if she was going to die, Jupiter just hoped that Daryl killed him before he could hurt anyone else. So she said nothing, and just glared at Shane, channelling all the hatred and defiance she could as she waited for him to finally do it.

He retrieved his gun, but when he came back to her, he had tucked it into his pants again, and she frowned.

"Aren't you going to shoot me?" She demanded, but Shane just laughed and shook his head before kneeling in front of her again.

"Of course not. Walkers prefer live bait," he smirked, and before she could say anything, pulled his fist back and punched her in the face, rendering her unconscious before she even hit the ground.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Daryl knew something was up as soon as Shane came running back towards the barn, his face bloody and screaming about getting jumped by the kid, who had then stole his gun. Something didn't add up about it, but he managed to keep his mouth shut until Shane was leading them back into the woods to where he'd apparently seen the kid run off to.

Of course there were no tracks, and Daryl frowned as he listened to Shane explain what had happened to Daryl, Glenn and Rick. He wanted them to believe that an injured guy who probably weighed the same as Jupiter managed to get the jump on him? Speaking of Jupiter...

"Hey, anyone seen Jupiter at all? She was with me, but I haven't seen her in a while and she wasn't at the house..."

The others shook their heads, but something about the look Shane gave him made him want to punch his teeth down his throat.

"I saw her head into the woods a few minutes before the kid jumped me," he confessed, and Daryl's heart stopped for a second. If Shane was telling the truth, then Randall could have Jupiter and be dragging her back to his camp.

"We've got to find her," he started, speaking to Rick, who nodded, asking him if he could track them, but Daryl shook his head. "There ain't no tracks here..."

Shane jumped in, shaking his head. "Hey, look, there ain't no use in tracking him, okay? He went that way. We need to pair up. We spread out, we just chase him down. That's it."

Suddenly Daryl couldn't bite his tongue any more and whirled on Shane. "Kid weighs a buck-25 soaking wet. You trying to tell us he got the jump on you?" He snarled, and Shane narrowed his eyes, spouting some bullshit about a rock evening the odds, but before Daryl could say anything else, Rick told them to shut up and split into two pairs to find Randall and Jupiter.

Deciding not to waste any more time with arguing, Daryl growled and led Glenn along the opposite flank to Rick and Shane, praying they found them before it got dark, which it would be doing very soon.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Jupiter woke, it was dark out, and she was alone, her hands bound still and her whole face aching from where Shane had hit her, but she was alive, and hadn't been found by any walkers yet, which was obviously great news. She just had to get back to the farm and expose Shane to the others for what he'd done to her and for killing Randall.

Speaking of... She looked around the tree she was laying in front of, expecting to see Randall where Shane had left him, only... He wasn't there. She blinked a few times, wondering what the hell was going on. Why would Shane bother moving Randall after dragging him out there and killing him there? Maybe he hadn't killed Randall, and he'd woken up and ran off? Stranger things had happened.

Deciding to put it out of her mind for a little while, Jupiter sat up and tried to get out of the ropes that held her hands together, not liking the thought of attempting to get back to the farm with her hands tied and with no weapon. But the ropes wouldn't move, and after a few moments of struggling, her wrists were raw and bloody, almost too sore to move. She knew she'd have to soon though. It was lucky no walkers had found her yet, and he luck was unlikely to hold, so she carefully got to her feet and took a step forward, looking down when her foot touched something.

She wanted to scream when she realised Shane hadn't took her knife, and it had been a few feet in front of her all along, and she'd cut up her wrists for nothing. Still, she had to get her wrists free so she could run back to the farm and warn the others about Shane...

A noise came from somewhere in front of her, and Jupiter froze, unable to see anything in the dark woods. It could be a walker or Shane, but either way she didn't want to stick around, so she grabbed her knife and carefully started moving away from the noise, making it so far before she just turned and ran, trying to keep the direction she knew the farm was in, on her right.

After a few minutes of stumbling around in the dark, she stopped and used the knife to cut her hands free before standing up. Just then she heard shots and dropped again, her first instinct to get out of the way, but then she realised that they had come from far off and couldn't possibly be meant for her. But then came the realisation, and she dropped to her knees, knowing that Shane had just likely killed one of her friends.

All she could think about was how smug she'd been earlier, when she thought about how Daryl wouldn't fall for Shane's bullshit, but not once had she considered that Shane might draw faster, and kill Daryl before he could shoot him. Daryl might be laying somewhere dying right now, and Jupiter was safe in the woods... That was the thought that infuriated her more than anything, though it would have had a similar effect if she thought of any of her other friends laying bleeding somewhere because she failed to stop Shane. So she got back to her feet and started jogging through the woods towards the gunshot she'd heard. Before she even reached the first gunshot sight, loads more suddenly joined in, back towards the farm.

"Oh no. Please no!" She begged as she started running back towards the farm, her mind going to Randall's group, thinking they'd found the farm.

She ran faster than she ever had, seeing the light up ahead before she heard the groans. She stopped dead in her tracks and ducked down, approaching the tree line very carefully and quietly, seeing that the barn was on fire and hundreds of walkers had swarmed the farm. Jupiter had no idea where the hell they'd came from, but she now understood why she had been hearing so many shots.

A couple hundred meters from where she stood, Jupiter watched as her friends shot at walkers from their cars as they'd clearly been doing for a while now, taking down any that got too close to the house. Jupiter could see it was a wasted effort as there was just too many walkers, and no where near enough ammo. The farm was lost as they had to get the hell out of there.

Clearly whoever was driving the cars had the same idea as soon after, everyone started leaving the farm. At first Jupiter was happy to see her friends escaping with their lives, but then she realised that she was alone, with only a hunting knife to protect herself with, and too many walkers between her and the nearest car. No one knew she was there, so no one was saving her.

She didn't know what to do, but she knew she couldn't hang around there all night. The sun would be rising soon, and the walkers would be able to see her and she'd have no where to go. Right on cue, a walker noticed her and came stumbling towards her, so she quickly killed it with her knife and then decided what she would do.

It was a fair few miles, but she was fast and she was fit. She just had to keep running, and maybe she'd make it out of the woods with her life.

Casting one final look back at the over run farm, she turned and ran.

She ran for what was left of the night, slowing to catch her breath on occasion, but never stopping, and when the sun came up, she recognised where she was and knew there was only a mile or so between her and the highway where they'd left supplies for Sophia.

Her lungs were screaming for air, and tears were streaming from her right eye, which was blackened and swollen thanks to Shane, but she didn't dare stop, knowing that if the survivors of the farm had been her group, they'd have gone back to the highway to regroup, but as they didn't know if she was alive or not, they might not hang around for long, especially as there were so many walkers about. Jupiter had been lucky on her escape and had only had to kill three since the farm.

She had just reached the creek where Rick had first lost Sophia when she slowed to a walk, no longer able to keep running. She was exhausted and in pain, but she didn't allow herself to stop completely, and kept walking, her hand on her side, trying to get rid of the stitch that had developed there. If she stopped, she knew she'd fall asleep and not move for hours, so she kept going, eventually hearing the sound of voices and allowing herself to smile.

"Did anyone see Jupiter?" She heard Daryl call, and she smiled as she slowly started climbing the bank up to the highway. No one answered Daryl, and she heard him swear and then announce that he was going back to look for her, only to be told no by Rick, saying it was too risky. She could almost see Daryl stick his neck out at Rick when he snarled. "I can't just leave her there!"

Now she really could see them, but no one had noticed her yet, so when Rick opened his mouth to reply, Jupiter stepped over the barrier and called out. "Leave who where? I've been waiting for you losers to arrive for ages!" She tried for a joke and the others turned to her, disbelief and smiles lighting up their faces. Daryl was the first to move, pushing past Rick and running towards her, wrapping his arms around her and picking her up off her feet. She choked on a laugh, feeling her bruised side complain at how tight her held her, and he quickly let go, onto to take her face between his hands and ask what happened.

"Shane," she explained, and Daryl's face darkened, as did everyone elses on the highway as they heard her answer, seeing the bruises and cuts on her face and the way she held her side. Daryl swore loudly and turned away while he tried to get a grip on his anger.

"That son of a bitch! He's lucky he's dead already!" He snarled and Jupiter frowned. Shane was dead? How had that happened?

From the look on Rick's face, she had her suspicions, but would hold off on questioning him until later, though Lori wanted to question Jupiter right now, about what Shane had done. Gathering her breath, Jupiter explained everything, from the first time she'd seen Shane point a gun at Rick's head, to the last time she'd seen him, when he knocked her out.

Daryl stood by her side for the entirety of the story, his arms crossed while he chewed on his thumb nail and looking ready to murder someone. When she was finally done, the others sat in silence for a moment before Lori walked towards her with a stunned look on her face, and before Jupiter could say anything, she hugged her, thanking her for everything she did to protect Rick and the group. Jupiter just patted her back, not believing she was that deserving of her praise as she'd only done what anyone else would have.

When Lori let her go, Jupiter smiled and then turned back to Daryl, seeing that he had stopped chewing his nails and was now watching her with no small amount of pride and need in his eyes, carefully guarded, but she knew him well enough to read him. The fact that she also needed him right then probably also had something to do with it, so when he gave her a tiny smile, she smirked and grabbed the front of his jacket, pulling him to her and kissing him like they'd never see tomorrow. In that world? Maybe they wouldn't.

Despite the horrors they'd all witnessed that day, the others still managed to laugh and cheer as the two of them kissed, only embarrassing them both enough that they pulled apart. Not too far mind, and the two of them didn't stray from each other's sides for ages, even when the group decided to move on. Even though she was exhausted, Jupiter still climbed on the back of Daryl's bike and put her arms around him, kissing his neck before she sat down and lifted her feet.

Then they were going, everyone piling into the cars and Daryl leading the way out, heading nowhere in particular, just away from the walkers. They drove for a few hours, Jupiter barely staying consciou on the back of Daryl's bike, just drifting off when one of the cars beeped it's horn and she jumped as Daryl pulled over to the side of the road. They both stood up and turned around to see the cars behind them doing the same. Everyone jumped out and so Daryl and Jupiter climbed off, Daryl grabbing his Crossbow as he addressed Rick. "You out?" He asked, and Rick nodded.

"Running on fumes."

Jupiter rubbed her arms and danced from foot to foot, trying to warm up some as she was freezing. Apparently not the only one as Carl complained a moment later and Rick gave him his jacket to wear. Jupiter wished they had the RV so they could all wrap up in the blankets, but it was back at the farm, filled with walkers. Turns out she didn't need it anyway as Daryl saw her shivering and stepped closer, wrapping his arms around her as he held her close, using his own body heat to warm her up. She pulled her hoodie sleeves down to cover her fingers from the cold that nipped at them, and held onto him too, slowly feeling herself warm up.

She was warm enough to begin to fall asleep standing up, still half listening to the conversation, but not bothered by anything until Rick finally said something that had her eyes flying open.

"We're all infected."

Wait, what?

Rick explained about the CDC and what Jenner had told him, and then the group had time to process it that night, camping out in a old structure by the dam. Daryl wouldn't let Jupiter out of his sight, and eventually she passed out from exhaustion, curled up with her back against his chest. Normally Daryl would have stayed up to keep watch, but they were all tired, and he fell asleep soon after Jupiter, his arms around Jupiter and not moving until he woke up. He'd failed to keep her safe from Shane, but never again. He wasn't going to let anything happen to her ever again, and he'd protect her from anything that threatened her safety, be it walker or human. He was not going to lose her like everyone else he'd loved before. She was his.


	13. Seed

Here we go again... Jupiter thought to herself as she climbed off the back of Daryl's bike outside of the house they would hopefully get some rest in that day.

Daryl got off after her, grabbing his crossbow and then looking to Rick, Carl and T-Dog, nodding once before the five of them headed towards the front of the house. Jupiter moved quickly to the windows and peered in, seeing two walkers in the hall, their backs to the door. She held two fingers up to Rick, and he nodded, taking a deep breath and then kicking the doors in, taking out the first walker while T-Dog moved past him, impaling the other in the head.

Carl and Daryl followed after, so Jupiter joined them, saying nothing as she started moving quietly up the stairs, knife in hand- and wishing again that she hadn't left her bat on the farm. You'd think she'd be over it after seven months, but Jupiter was holding a grudge. Walking up into the dark hallway would have felt better if she'd had a bat instead of a hunting knife... Still, she had to clear upstairs, so she proceeded slowly, her knife up in case any walkers were up there. She started at the back and worked her way back to the stairs, but but the time she'd cleared the first two rooms, T-Dog and Daryl were doing the others.

She was just walking back down the hall when she heard the sound of a bolt firing from Daryl's crossbow and ran towards it, busting into the first bedroom to see Daryl picking up an owl from the ground, his bolt in it. She breathed a sigh of relief and put her knife away, turning from the room and heading back downstairs. She nodded at Rick to show that upstairs was clear, and he turned back to the outside and whistled, signalling for the others to come inside.

It was the same routine they'd been doing almost daily for seven months. Go in, clear a house, settle down for a while and try to scrounge up some food, the walkers come, the group runs. It was hard. Food was very scarce and that only put pressure on Rick and Daryl, who both felt responsible if the others went hungry.

Jupiter knew everyone was feeling the weight of the situation, all wanting to help however they could, but none of them knew anything about hunting, though Daryl had taught Jupiter a few things over the winter months. Mainly snares as rabbits were the only creatures that there was a lot of. But with Lori eating for two, and everyone using so much energy up constantly on the run or fighting walkers, there was never enough food, and hunger was a constant pain in their stomachs.

When everyone was in the house, they all sat in the living room while Daryl prepared the owl and quickly cooked it, sharing it out between the group. It was barely more than a mouthful each, but better than nothing. 

Jupiter couldn't bring herself to eat her own portion, not when Carl was sitting beside her after wolfing down his own. She'd find food later, she promised herself as she handed Carl hers with a small smile. He took it without complaint, for which she was thankful. Daryl got pissy if she didn't eat, even if he was a hypocrite and always made sure everyone had food before thinking about getting his own. Carl was a growing kid and needed it more than she did, was Juniper's logic. If Carl had enough, she'd give it to Lori next, but Rick usually beat her to it, offering his own food and making sure Lori ate it, even if she didn't want to. She had to keep her strength up for the baby.

Speaking of the baby... Lori's so huge, she had to be about to drop, at which point they were in some real trouble if they didn't find somewhere to make safe for a few weeks, until the baby was born. Though Jupiter knew it would be hard even then. Every time the baby cried, it'd be ringing the damn dinner bell for any walkers near by.

Not that they needed a bell. T-Dog whistled and nodded at the window, signalling walkers outside, so Jupiter sighed and got to her feet, going with the others to lead the way out, silently jogging back to the vehicles and climbing in. As usual, Jupiter got on the bike with Daryl, and the group was gone again, driving away from the house in under a minute.

As the house got further away, Jupiter felt the fatigue in her bones grow. They'd been on the run for so long, and it was exhausting and wearing them all down. Jupiter hadn't seen any of them smile in weeks. They had nothing to smile about. Every time they let their guard down for a second, walkers came. They couldn't stop moving, but at the same time they couldn't keep going... Not like they had been. All winter they'd been going in circles, barely scraping by on what little food they could find, and never settling long enough to feel safe. They had to find somewhere safe, and soon.

A few hours after leaving the house, it was like Jupiter's pleas had been answered, as she went hunting with Rick and Daryl, walking along the traintracks until they saw a prison, overrun with walkers. Daryl didn't think anything of it, but Jupiter shared a look with Rick and finally the hint of a smile ghosted on Rick's face. They might have just found their place.

They didn't bother hunting anything else before returning to the others and telling them about the prison. If they could clear it of walkers, they might have a new home. Everyone was so tired of running that they would have agreed on a summer vacation to Hell at that point, so they grabbed weapons and Rick led the way, talking through the plan in the woods, and then when they were ready, they moved as one.

Rick charged ahead, cutting a hole in the outermost fence while the others stayed around him, keeping walkers away while they waited. Carl and Lori went through first and the others followed soon after, Jupiter just climbing through before Rick. As planned, Glenn quickly used some wire to close the hole up again, and Jupiter held her breath as a walker charged at it, barging into the fence directly over the wire. But it held.

On the other side of the inner fence, other walkers had noticed the group and started snarling and throwing themselves at it, trying to get to them, but they were already moving, running towards the main gate quickly, wanting to make sure they hadn't just trapped themselves in a tunnel for the walkers to come at them. Jupiter and Glenn were the fastest and led the way, reaching the gate and sighing in relief when they saw that it was shut. Walkers were on either side of the fences, but they still had the patrol areas between. Of course, they weren't going to stop there, and soon enough Rick had come up with a pan and was rattling off orders to the others.

They needed to close the gate, but it was through a field full of walkers.

Glenn volunteered to run for it, but Rick shook his head, saying he would go. Knowing she was the fastest, Jupiter spoke up.

"I'll go. I'm the fastest..." She could tell Rick was going to start shaking his head, so she blushed and added the other truth. "And the worst shot. We need as many guns here, and if you're covering me, none of us are gonna end up killed. My aim is terrible and I'd rather not risk it... Let me do this."

Rick sighed but agreed, handing her the chain to close the gate at the other end. Maggie had already said it was a suicide run, so Jupiter wasn't surprised to find Daryl watching her, looking conflicted. He knew she could take care of herself, but at the same time, it didn't feel right letting her run into a cage full of walkers alone. Jupiter gave him a small smile, not letting her fear show. She was going to be fine. She knew she could run circles around the walkers all day if she had to, but Daryl's face showed that he might argue.

Instead of letting him, Jupiter quickly walked over to him and kissed him on the mouth, squeezing his hand as she pulled back. "I'll be fine, Dixon. Just make sure you shoot any that get too close," She ordered, and he nodded, stepping back and then running back to the first guard tower with Carol. Hershel and Carl would take the one above her now, and the others would distract the walkers so she could slip through the gate unnoticed. Lori stayed to open and close the gate, giving Jupiter a weak smile as she got ready to open the gate.

"Be careful, honey," she whispered, but Jupiter heard what she didn't say. Thank you for saving Rick. Even if Lori did like Jupiter, she'd still rather see her torn to pieces that her husband, even though they'd been having problems since they left the farm. Jupiter nodded and pulled out her knife, taking one final breath before Lori opened the gate enough so she could squeeze through. Then she ran.

God there was a lot of walkers, and as the gate closed behind her, Jupiter couldn't help the slight panic as she felt like she'd just been trapped in the lions den. She didn't have time to panic though, she was already half way to the gate. The walkers had noticed her, and she heard as the others shouted warnings, but she couldn't allow herself to look and see them coming at her, not before she closed the gate, or she might panic and lose her nerve.

So she ran at the gate, flying kicking a walker back through it before she slammed it shut, quickly getting the chain in place and then turning to see a whole herd of walkers coming for her. A handful of them were already too close, so she drove her knife into the skulls of the closest three and then ran for the door of the watch tower beside her, praying it was open. Her breath was impossibly loud in her ears, almost enough that she couldn't hear the snarls of the walkers.

She'd just grabbed the door handle when her arm was grabbed by a cold hand, and she knew she was done. She didn't have time to stab the walker before it bit her and infected her... But then there was a whistle followed by a thunk, and her arm was suddenly released as the walker fell to the ground, an arrow through it's head.

She didn't bother looking up to thank Daryl as she yanked open the tower door and ran inside, slamming it behind her and immediately jumping at the walker in front of her, slamming her knife into it's skull before it even knew what was happening. The other one saw her coming and snarled, but she was faster, and killed it as the sound of gunfire started outside.

Her heart was already racing but she didn't allow herself to stop, and took a final breath before shoving off from the cold wall, towards the light from the balcony above.

Sprinting up the stairs, Jupiter encountered no other walkers, but when she reached the balcony, she found a rifle with a scope and smirked as she picked the heavy weapon up, joining the others in shooting the walkers in the field. She had to remind herself to be calm and take a deep breath before she lifted the weapon and took aim, allowing herself to exhale steadily, just like Daryl had shown her with his crossbow, before she pulled the trigger.

The shot was loud. Louder than any of the guns, but she didn't care as she saw the walker go down from the head shot. She was amazed, but didn't let her self celebrate, and instead took aim again, taking down another two walkers before Rick killed the last walker and she slowly lowered the rifle.

Grinning from ear to ear at how well the plan had actually worked, Jupiter ran back down the stairs with the rifle and tried to open the door.

Only it wouldn't budge, and she knew why. There was undoubtedly a pile of walker bodies on the other side of it, so she put the rifle down and started shoving against the door, grunting with the effort as the door edged a little further open with each barge. After a minute her shoulder was aching, but she was pretty sure she'd only need to open it a little further before she could squeeze out, so she braced herself and then barged it one final time. She cried out as the door gave way, hitting something solid, but she couldn't see what as she was already falling, hitting the ground hard and swearing loudly.

She looked up as someone cussed and saw Daryl behind the door, smirking at Jupiter as she lay on the floor. Clearly he'd moved the body in her way and had been what the door hit when she fell out of it. "Cheers," she thanked him, slightly sarcastically as she held up a hand so he could pull her to her feet, smirking at him when he did.

Before she could say anything undoubtedly hilarious, Daryl was pulling her towards him, his face concerned. "You hurt?" He asked, running his hands over her bare shoulders and checking for bites or scratches, his blue eyes bright and piercing as they briefly met her gaze before returning to her body, following his own hands as he gently checked her. But she was fine and shook her head.

"I'm fine... Daryl look at this place!" She beamed, unable to contain her excitement at the thought of not having to worry about walkers getting them in their sleep, and actually getting some proper rest. Even Daryl was excited, though he didn't show it as much and instead just took her hand, interlocking their fingers as they headed back to the others. Rick put a hand on Jupiter's shoulder and smiled- a genuine smile that Jupiter was happy to see.

"Good job, Jupe... And good shooting!" He complemented her and she laughed, gesturing back to the guard tower she'd been in.

"There was a rifle in there, and it had a scope, so I don't know it it counts as good shooting, but it was actually pretty sweet!" She nerded out a little, and some of the others laughed, Rick included. He patted her on the back before stepping away.

None of them had been that happy in a while, and once some of them had gone back for the vehicles and parked them inside the gates, the mood only brightened further, despite the walkers surrounding them at every fence. They were safe for now and could rest, which was exactly what most of them did as the skies started to darken.

Daryl and Jupiter decided to take watch, climbing on top of the over turned bus and watching the woods in the darkness, hardly saying anything. For once, it was a nice silence though, and not because they were both too tired to talk, even though they were. It was comfortable, and when Jupiter sat down on the edge, her legs dangling, Daryl joined her, putting his arm around her.

"What you thinking about?" He asked, leaning towards her so his lips brushed her cheek when he spoke, making her smile as she turned to him, gently brushing his lips with her own before resting her forehead against his and answering with a smile.

"This place... It's good. I was just thinking how nice it'd be to stop running all the time and actually have a dependable base."

Daryl nodded, his fingertips tracing patterns into her side beneath her shirt, giving her goosebumps where he touched. He said nothing, and Jupiter knew that he agreed and was thinking about it himself. The winter had been hard, and they were lucky that they hadn't lost anyone despite everything. The prison, once cleared, could be their safe harbour and place to start fresh.

They were still sitting like that when Carol joined them, handing them a bowl of food before excusing herself and walking back to the others.

The three of them had spent a lot of time together over the last 7 months, and Jupiter considered Carol to be her friend then. More so than the others, except for maybe Rick, who she'd taken upon herself to attempt to cheer up during their time outside.

Daryl picked up the bowl but didn't take any before offering it to Jupiter. She took a tiny bit but Daryl growled and shook the bowl at her.

"I saw you give your food to Carl again, Jupe. When's the last time you ate?" He asked with a growl, and she didn't bother lying, knowing he'd know anyway.

"Four days," she whispered, taking more food. Daryl grunted in disapproval but didn't say anything else as he knew she was too stubborn to listen. She was a protector of their group, and she'd do what she thought was needed to keep them all safe. He couldn't fault her for that, even though he'd do everything he could to keep her safe. Even if that meant just being near her and offering her whatever protection he could.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day, he did just that. Half of the group would be moving further into the prison to clear the walkers out. Naturally Jupiter had volunteered to be a part of it, so Daryl made sure they would be together. He knew she could protect herself, but that didn't stop his heart from stuttering every time she was too close to a walker, their snapping jaws inches away from taking away the only thing he had left fighting for.

She was good for him, and the two of them were two sides of the same coin. Where he was the cold, strong and silent type, she was a fire given life, her fierce temper burning in her every move. Apart, they were two wild forces, fighting against the world alone, but together, they balanced and their tempers were calmed some. Though when they fought as one, their fierce need to protect and save made them an unbreakable team. Something just worked there, and the others in the group had also noticed, regularly complementing them on it.

As they all started gearing up to go past the gate, Jupiter looked up from tying up her boots and grinned at Daryl, surprising him again, just like she did every day. After all they'd seen and been through, how she could still wake up and smile before throwing herself into a situation she might not walk away from. It amazed him, and more than once had managed to pull him from his own dark thoughts. Jupiter laughed in the face of danger every day, literally, and Daryl couldn't help but wonder how? How could she manage to smile, laugh and joke every day, when a single slip up could be the end.

Still, he understood that sometimes you couldn't become numb to the world, no matter how much you wanted to. The way his heart swelled every time he saw Jupiter smile was proof of that, and the way she'd turned his world upside down was never something he'd regret, even if he knew that one day he might lose her, and that was a loss he wasn't sure he'd come back from.

He shook his head to clear those thoughts- not wanting to be paranoid right before they went into a walker infested cage together. She was going to be fine, so was everyone else. The group was unified again, not broken like they'd been on the farm, and they'd face whatever was behind those gates and survive. Just like they always did.

"You ready?" Rick asked, and Jupiter stood up straight beside Daryl, rolling her shoulders and readjusting her grip on her loaned machete, nodding her head the same as Daryl. Rick took a deep breath and unclipped one of the carabiners, sliding the gate open and letting everyone in. 

They moved quickly, staying together as they gradually moved further up, meeting barely any problems until the walkers in riot gear game out, their heads protected by helmets. Maggie was the first to kill one of them, and the others quickly followed her lead, pulling the helmets up and stabbing them through the jaw.

There was more walkers around the corner, but Rick and Daryl managed to lock them behind a gate, securing another section of the prison. Once the final walker on their side of the gate was killed, Jupiter caught her breath, wiping the blood from her hands onto her trousers before looking to the others. Everyone was ok, so it was ok to go on, inside the prison.

That was the part Jupiter wasn't so fond of, knowing that it was going to be dark, probably full of walkers, and cold. That was not how she wanted to die, but if they didn't go in, they'd be sleeping outside again, and Lori needed a bed. So she took a breath and then followed Rick, Daryl close behind her, his breathing almost silent as they walked up some steps and to the first door. Edging passed her, Daryl lifted his crossbow, ready for when Rick opened the door. Jupiter held her breath, as Rick slid the door open and lunged inside, his knife raised. But his shoulders relaxed as he came face to face with a metal caged door, and no visible walkers on the other side of it.

Just as she'd expected, it was cold and dark inside, not to mention messy, but there was no walkers in sight. Still, she remained quiet as she leaned forward and handed Rick her torch so he could check the shadows before opening the door. She couldn't see much, leaning around Daryl, but no sound came from inside, so they slowly walked in.

The first thing Jupiter saw was the blood staining the glass of the warden's office, and the outline of a body. Knowing what was likely up there, she shivered and looked away, seeing the locked doors on all the entrances and feeling a little better. No one had probably been in there since the outbreak started, walker or human. Still, they all kept their voices down, knowing it probably wasn't the case for the whole prison, and beyond any of the doors could be hoards of walkers, waiting on their next meal.

Rick headed up to check the warden for keys and to see if he was likely to come after them, so Jupiter walked to the cell block to peer through the bars and see if anyone was inside. She couldn't hear anything, but there was a faint smell of rot, so she wasn't ruling anything out yet. She couldn't see around the side of the door, even when she grabbed the cold metal between her hands and leaned forward. Her head was too big, and she didn't want to risk sticking her arm through to feel for anything... Not when something with teeth might be lurking just out of sight.

She saw what was inside soon enough, as Rick returned with the keys in hand and carefully unlocked the door, allowing them through. They quickly and silently moved into the room, backs to the wall and facing the cells, ready should something come at them. Jupiter noticed the body against the wall and relaxed some, figuring she'd found the source of the rotting smell.

She moved on, heading up to the next level, Daryl already up there, clearing the far cells when she joined him, heading back on herself towards the door they'd came through. The smell of rot was stronger up there, she noticed, moving slowly further down the row. There was a bang from one of the cells and Jupiter froze, her eyes moving to the source of the sound and narrowing as she failed to see anything. The doors were closed, so whatever was inside was trapped. Still, she moved carefully, feeling Daryl was close behind her, his crossbow undoubtedly aimed over her shoulder in case the door should open and a walker charge out.

She was at the second to last cell when the walker stepped into the light, snarling and reaching for her through the bars. She dodged back, her back flat against the railings behind her as she flung her arm out to stop Daryl from getting grabbed. He had seen them too, so she lowered her arm and moved on, seeing a similar case in the last cell, the walker reaching for her again. She shared a look with Daryl and then the two of them stabbed the two walkers in the brain, killing them.

"Clear," Jupiter called, receiving echoes from the others in reply. They'd cleared the cell block, and no one was hurt again, so far the prison had been the best thing they'd done in a while, and Jupiter could only hope their luck held.

Rick stepped away from the cells so everyone could see him and nodded, looking around in satisfaction as what they'd achieved. "OK, lets go get the others and our things..." Everyone started moving, but Rick held up his hand to Daryl and Jupiter. "Not you two. You two and T-Dog, start clearing bodies out of the cells. Drag them out into the yard and we'll deal with them tomorrow..."

They nodded and Rick threw Daryl a set of keys to open the doors, keeping the other set on his belt. 

Despite the hard work they were doing, and the disgusting smell, Jupiter couldn't help but smile as they worked, lifting the walker bodies up and throwing them over the railings to T-Dog, who dragged them outside. When Daryl saw the smile, he couldn't help his own.

"What're you grinning at?" He asked. 

Jupiter raised her eyes to his and chuckled a little. "It's just good. Here. Now. After so long out there... I don't know... This just feels right." She didn't say safe, and nor would she. If they thought they were safe, they'd let their guard down, and that was one sure fire way to get yourself killed. Daryl understood, looking like he was about to say something back to her when they threw the last body over, but then the others arrived and he shut his mouth, leaving it left unsaid.

Jupiter wasn't that bothered. Daryl had opened up to her somewhat, but she knew it was unlikely for him to do so to the others for a while. He was always more quiet around them, more of a listener than a talker. He'd changed a lot since she'd first met him-they all had- but Daryl the most. He wasn't the angry, rude redneck any more... He was a valued member of the group, and Rick's second in command. Jupiter was proud of him, and just smiled at him again as they leaned over the railings to watch the others come in.

Rick welcomed them and explained that they'd find the infirmary and cafeteria in the morning and to get some rest in the mean time. When he said they'd be sleeping in the cells, Daryl froze up a little and shook his head. "I ain't sleeping in no cage... I'll take the perch," he declared, walking towards the space at the top of the stairs. Jupiter watched him go and rolled her eyes, following behind him and taking a seat with her back against the wall, watching the others pick cells. It didn't take long, and after a few minutes, everyone was settling in for the night. Daryl had pulled a mattress from one of the cells and got comfortable, looking up at Jupiter and moving up to make room for her beside him. "You gonna lie down?" He asked.

Jupiter shot him a crooked smile, running her fingers through his hair for a second before looking down to where Rick was sitting against a wall, quiet and clearly thinking hard about something. He was troubled, and Jupiter was gonna wait for him to get into a cell before she went to sleep. "No. Not yet. But you go ahead... I'm gonna keep watch for a while."

She half expected Daryl to volunteer to stay up with her, but she was glad to see that he just shrugged and lay on his back, closing his eyes as he mumbled for her to not be too long. Smiling down at him, she leaned over and quickly kissed his lips. "Goodnight, Dixon."

He smiled and put his hands behind his head. "Goodnight, Princess." For the first time, Jupiter didn't object to the nickname he'd given her, and instead just chuckled and returned to playing with his hair, thinking about the nickname and why he'd given it to her. Apparently her accent made her sound like a princess, and as her hair was all the way down to her butt now, she could be Rapunzel. Of course, she hated the nickname at first, and so naturally Daryl had called her it teasingly, but after getting used to it, she realised it wasn't so bad. She still sometimes complained about it, but not as much.

When she come back to herself, Jupiter realised it was getting dark out and Rick was still sitting by himself. She sighed quietly and got to her feet, careful not to disturb Daryl or make too much noise as she moved down the stairs and come to a stop beside Rick. He looked up at her with tired eyes and she held out a hand. "Come on," she whispered. "Let's go for a walk?"

At first she thought Rick was going to tell her to leave him alone, but then he sighed and took her hand, getting to his feet. The two of them silently headed out, locking the door after them, just in case. When they got outside, a cool wind brushed Jupiter's skin and she couldn't help but gasp a little. She ignored Rick's look and led him out further, sitting on the bleachers by the basketball court with him. There, she waited for him to say something, but he remained silent, staring out into the woods with the same look on his face. Taking a deep breath, Jupiter decided to start.

"You've done a great job, Rick." He turned to look at her, so she continued. "Getting us this far... We survived seven months on the road because of you... We found this place because of you, and your children will have an actual future because of you... You're a brilliant leader, and no one could do a better job than you have, and I just want to make sure that you know that?"

Rick exhaled sharply, almost like he laughed, as he looked down and started playing with his wedding ring. 

"I'm not sure Shane, Andrea, Jimmy or Patricia would agree with you there Jupe... They died because of-"

"Shane!" She cut in, refusing to even let him finish his thought. "They died because of Shane. He changed, and this world was clearly too much for him... He lost it, and you protected us from him. Those deaths are on his hands and no one elses..." Rick looked away, his fists clenching, so Jupiter reached over and put her hand on top of his, making him look at her so he'd understand what she was saying to him.

"Any one of us would have done the same thing, Rick... I know it's not something I should admit to, but until Dale, I'd been planning on killing Shane myself..." Rick tilted his head in surprise, but Jupiter didn't let herself stop, and instead confessed the whole truth to her friend. "The difference between you and me though? You acted in self defence... I was going to kill Shane when he didn't see it coming. He was a risk to the group and I would have had no problem with killing him to protect everyone else. You think that makes me a monster?"

Rick stayed silent for a few seconds, and she half expected him to say yes, but then he sighed again and dropped his head. "No... It means you had the strength to do something I couldn't until I had no other choice... You acted like a leader..."

Jupiter laughed, the sound drawing the attention of walkers outside the fence and they started pushing against it again, snarling. Jupiter ignored them and addressed Rick again. "Not a good leader! I was gonna kill one of our own and then leave... Not to sound too full of myself, but I'd have killed one of our best fighters and made you lose another one when I left... The group would have been weak, and I'd have made it so... You tried to keep us together, make us strong. That's why we survived the winter. Because you are a good leader."

Rick said nothing again, so Jupiter got to her feet and Rick copied her movement, slightly surprised when Jupiter acted out of character and moved forward to give Rick a hug, holding onto him tightly until he unfroze and put his arms around her too. They stayed that way for a few minutes, saying nothing. Jupiter knew that Rick wasn't going to believe what she said unless he wanted to, so she didn't waste any more of her breath, but when they walked back inside together, she noticed happily that he walked into an empty cell instead of returning to the floor by the wall.

Happy that her work was done, Jupiter checked the two doors were locked before walking back up the stairs and carefully lying down beside Daryl. He'd either heard her come back or hadn't been sleeping as he shifted a little and then his arms were around her, pulling her closer to him.

"You're freezing," he mumbled quietly, his voice heavy with sleep. Jupiter hummed in reply, but closed her eyes, snuggling into Daryl's chest as he rubbed up and down her bare arms, trying to warm her up. After a moment, he reached behind his head and pulled out his poncho, wrapping it around her before holding her close again, his chin resting on the top of her head as he sighed, slipping back into sleep, Jupiter not far behind.


	14. Sick

The one problem the prison hadn't solved so far was the food situation. The group had been safe, warm, and well rested since they arrived, but food was just as scarce as it had been for the last few months, so when they were gearing up that morning, everyone was in favour of finding the cafeteria first, hoping that because the prison had fallen early on, it might still have some food left inside. They were also going to find the infirmary, so Hershel was coming along to bring anything he'd need back to the cells so they'd be ready when Lori gave birth.

The seven of them stood around one of the tables in the next room, checking out the supplies they'd gathered up so far. Daryl pulled a face at the helmet he picked up, something dead smelling and foul looking dripping from it.

"I ain't wearing this shit," he declared and Jupiter had to agree. She wasn't really feeling like wearing a mask that -until recently- had been home to the head of a rotting walker. T-Dog looked just as impressed with the thought of wearing them, screwing his face up in disgust as he lifted a dripping glove.

"We could boil them," he suggested half-heartedly and Jupiter had to suppress the urge to gag, thinking of how bad that would smell. Daryl put the helmet back down and wiped his hand on his bottoms.

"Ain't enough firewood in the whole forest, no." Seeing Daryl so disgusted was amusing to Jupiter, and she had to cough to disguise her chuckle. Daryl saw straight through her, casting her a sidelong glare as he picked up a metal bar, swinging it as if he was attacking a walker. "Besides, we got this far without them, right?"

Jupiter shrugged, but before any further discussion could be had, Carol summoned Hershel, leaving the rest of them to get ready without him. They each grabbed a flashlight, and then a few extra weapons between them, ready should there be any walkers beyond the door they'd be heading through. When Hershel came back, Maggie, Glenn, T-Dog and Hershel all put on the riot gear, with the help of the others, and then it was time to go. Carl locked the first door behind them, and Jupiter ruffled his hair through the bars.

"Be good, Kid. Keep an eye out for everyone?"

Carl nodded and stepped back, so Jupiter took a deep breath and followed the others to the next door, staying at the back of the pack to make sure they weren't crept up on. Daryl and Rick led them, taking the corners together to make sure they weren't going to run into a herd. It was silent though, and once Jupiter had blocked out the sound of her heart beat, she was able to hear the sound of dripping water from somewhere. No walker groans though. So they kept on.

It smelled bad in there. Of damp and rot, with a hint of smoke. Maybe a fire had killed all the infected months ago? There was bodies on the ground though, torn apart until all that was left was a bloody skeleton. Jupiter kept her eyes on them, waiting for one of them to move and go for someone. None of them did though. They were truly dead.

All the cell doors being open was putting her on edge, and Jupiter was half tempted to kick them closed as she passed. Not wanting to risk the noise, she just ignored them, pointing her torch inside when she stopped to wait for Glenn while he sprayed arrows on the walls, making sure they knew their way back if they had to run. Maggie cried out when she walked out of a cell and bumped into Glenn. Clearly Jupiter wasn't the only one on edge.

The further in they went, the colder it got, and Jupiter shuddered as goosebumps rose on her skin. The tiny breeze coming through didn't help, making her hair tickle like someone was breathing down her neck. She couldn't help but keep turning around to check, paranoid that walkers would be snapping at her neck before she realised it wasn't the wind. Each time it was just her being paranoid though, and further and further they moved into the prison without seeing any walkers.

She was just beginning to relax when the leaders rounded a corner and the sound of snarling reached her ears.

"Go back! Go back. Walkers! Go back!" Rick called, still trying to keep his voice down as he moved backwards, not taking his eyes from the approaching walkers. Jupiter turned and followed Glenn and Maggie, following the painted directions Glenn had left. She was ahead of the other two as they rounded the corner, so they had time to stop as she collided with something hard, shouting in alarm as she realised it was more walkers, blocking their path out of there.

They already had hold of her, so she screamed and thrashed against them, trying to get away before they could bite her. Glenn and Maggie grabbed her and yanked her away from the walkers, pulling her along behind them as they ran after the others, but soon enough she was in front of the two of them, running along side T-Dog, following Rick. More walkers came from another corridor, and she lost sight of Glenn and Maggie.

She couldn't stop though, much as she wanted to go back for her friends. If they stopped, they'd die. So she kept running, eventually getting pulled into a supply cupboard behind T-Dog and squatting down with the others as they waited for the walkers to pass.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Rick whispered, and the others shrugged. Jupiter swallowed and whispered back.

"They were right behind me. We got split up when the other walkers came. They must have ran into one of those cells back there."

Rick nodded and stood again to check if the walkers had passed. They must have as he nodded to them and opened the door, moving out quickly, heading back the way they'd come.

Jupiter led the way, listening for the sounds of her friends but hearing nothing except Hershel calling for the missing pair. They turned another corner, and out of habit, Jupiter checked behind them, her breath catching when she saw that Hershel was gone. Shit! She thought, just about to tell the others to turn around when the sound of screaming echoed down the halls, and she was gone, running back the way they'd came, terrified of what she was going to find.

Her knees almost gave out when she saw Hershel on the ground, a walker biting into his calf.

"No!" She howled as she threw her knife, embedding it in the head of the walker and the skidding to her knees next to the frantic doctor. The sound of his cries was making her panic, having ever seen him like that before, but she knew they had to get him the hell out of there and somewhere they could defend. Maggie and Glenn ran around the corner, and when they saw him, Maggie looked like she might pass out, starting to cry as more walkers rounded the corner behind her, heading back to them.

"Daryl!" Jupiter yelled, not needing to explain as he moved forward, shooting the leader of the walkers and grabbing the top of Maggies arm, dragging her down the corridor while the others got Hershel up and carried him after them. Once Rick and T-Dog took his weight, Jupiter grabbed her knife from the skull of the walker she'd killed and brought up the back again, killing any walkers that got too close. They needed to run. The walkers were too many and they were gonna get swarmed.

Naturally the worst thing possible happened and the group stopped moving, having encountered a locked door.

"Hurry up!" Jupiter yelled, stabbing a walker in the head and dancing out of another's grip. "Get the damn door!"

She was just about to accept that the end had finally come for them, when T-Dog broke the chain on the doors and they all spilled in, Jupiter killing another walker before turning and running towards Daryl, who was practically dancing in place, waiting to slam the doors shut once she was inside. She'd just reached him when a hand suddenly had hold of her long plait, dragging her back out towards the hoard.

She screamed in pain and fear as she was tugged back, but then Daryl was there, his strong arms holding onto her, panic in his eyes as he played tug of war with a walker, his girlfriend being the rope. She screamed again as the walker tugged harder, pulling her back further towards the pack. She knew what was going to happen. Daryl wouldn't be able to hold her with one hand to grab a knife and kill the walker, so they'd both be dragged into the pack and killed. She was scared of dying, but the thought of dragging Daryl with her made her sick, so she did the only thing she could think of and let go.

Daryl yelled, knowing what she was doing, but refusing to let her go, his face screwing up with the effort of holding onto her, his beautiful eyes taking in the approaching walkers and knowing that his end might have arrived. He wasn't ready to die, but he wasn't ready to lose Jupiter yet, especially by letting her go while he survived. He'd rather die bloody than let her die alone and torn apart by walkers.

"Daryl let go!" Jupiter screamed, begging him as tears fell from her eyes, but he wouldn't and he shook his head violently, snarling at the approaching walkers. In a last ditch effort, Daryl moved back with Jupiter, kicking out at the walker that had her hair, catching it in the chest. 

Jupiter gasped as her hair was freed from it's grip and the walker fell back into the others, slowing them down as Daryl grabbed her arm and hauled her into the next room, T-Dog slamming the doors after them and quickly sticking his fire poker through the handles to keep it shut. 

Daryl and Jupiter hit the ground together, both gasping for air, but they had more important things to be doing, so they scrambled to the side of Hershel, watching as Rick paled as he took his belt off and wrapped it around Hershel's knee, making a tourniquet and then picking up the axe at his side.

"Only one way to keep you alive."

Jupiter knew what he was going to do, but couldn't look away as Rick brought the axe down on Hershel's leg, over and over again, cutting off the infected limb. Daryl held Hershel down, but he was unconscious before the leg was even gone.

Rick paled further at the sight of what he'd just done, but he knew he had to stay calm, so he kneeled back down.

"He's bleeding out!"

No one could do anything though, but Daryl noticed movement behind Rick and casually reached for his crossbow behind Jupiter.

"Duck," he said quietly, and Rick dropped while Daryl got to his feet, pointing his crossbow at the figures on the other side of the mesh screen.

Jupiter was right beside him, her knife in her hand and ready to throw should she need, but when their torches moved to the figures, they found the faces of more humans. Alive.

A shorter blonde guy was the first to speak.

"Holy shit!"

Inwardly Jupiter laughed. My sentiments exactly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next few moments were a blur as the five prisoners came out, one of them pointing a gun at them as Daryl kept his crossbow up. They didn't have time for a confrontation though, and Hershel needed Carol, so Glenn grabbed a trolley table and they put the doc on it, wheeling him out of there as T-Dog killed the walker that had held Jupiter's hair moments before.

Jupiter and Daryl kept their weapons up, pointed at the others and keeping them away from their group until Hershel was out of there and Rick was screaming for them to come. So they followed, still at the back of the pack and facing behind so they'd be able to keep an eye on the prisoners. Jupiter swiped at the tears still on her face, ignoring the pain in her head and the tightness in her chest as she gave herself something to distract her from it. The group was more important than her emotions at that moment, so she'd protect them, just like she always did.

Daryl unlocked the door at the end and Rick shouted to Carl to open the next one, the others following after him while Daryl and Jupiter waited for the prisoners the show up, Daryl reloading while Jupiter picked up more knives from the table, ready to throw them if she needed. She swiped at her eyes again, and saw Daryl watching her from the corner of her eye.

"I'm fine!" She sniffed, refusing to even look at him, and after a second he looked at the door again, propping his leg up on the bench and loading an arrow, pointing it at the door and waiting.

It didn't take long for the five of them to arrive, the one with the gun leading the way, though his gun was tucked away in his jump suit again.

"That's far enough," Daryl warned, and the prisoners slowed down. The leader looked between the two of them and the door leading to the cells, pointing at it as he stepped closer.

"Cell block C, Cell four. That's mine, Gringo. Let me in."

Daryl was having none of it, and Jupiter adjusted her grip on the knife at her side, ready to throw it as soon as one of them looked like they were gonna start causing trouble. "Today's your lucky day, Fellas," Daryl said evenly, still not lowering his crossbow. "You've been pardoned by the state of Georgia. You're free to go."

The leader completely ignored him and started asking questions. "What you got going on in there?"

Jupiter narrowed her eyes, tapping the flat of the blade against her leg impatiently. "None of your concern!" She snapped.

The guy grabbed his gun and pulled it out, moving closer to her in an attempt to be intimidating. "Don't be telling me what's my concern," he warned, but Jupiter was unimpressed by his show and moved forward herself, Daryl flanking her.

The biggest guy sighed and spoke to his guy. "Chill man. Dude's leg is messed up. Besides, you're free now. Why we still in here?" He tried, and Daryl spoke from beside Jupiter, his voice betraying no hint of emotion as he spoke to the leader, who's eyes were still locked on Jupiter's.

"Man's got a point."

"Yeah, and I gotta check on my old lady," Shrugged one of the other prisoners. Jupiter noticed that most of them seemed to be ok to deal with, and it was their leader who was the problem.

"Group of civilians breaking into a prison you've got no business being in, got me thinking there ain't no place for us to go!" He argued, and Jupiter answered again, seeing how she managed to get under his skin for some reason. 

"Why don't you go find out?" She snarled, flipping her knife in her hand. One twitch of her wrist was all it would take for her to send the knife into the leader's throat, and apparently her threat was clear enough as the guy with the moustache spoke again, trying to act as the mediator, holding his hands up. 

"Maybe we'll just be going now."

The leader was having none of it, staring at Jupiter like he wanted nothing more than to feed her to a group of walkers. Daryl could see the look and had to stop himself from stepping in front of Jupiter, blocking her from sight. "Hey, we ain't leaving!"

T-Dog came around the corner with his gun aimed at the leader, who raised his own in repsonse.

"You ain't coming here either!" T-Dog called, ignoring the gun in his face. 

"Hey, this is my house, my rules, I go where I damn well please!" The leader yelled, loud enough to quieten the voices in the cells, but Jupiter was more concerned about the walkers beyond the open door behind the prisoners. She stopped thinking about them though when Daryl spoke "I ain't gonna tell you again," he warned, and the leader of the other group put his gun in Daryl's face, shouting back.

She moved faster than anyone had expected. "Put the fucking gun down!" She snarled, her knife against the leaders neck, and her hand fisted in his shirt to make sure he couldn't back away. His group froze, unsure of if they should get her off him. Clearly they didn't want to risk it, knowing she'd kill him before they moved, and Daryl and T-Dog would take them down if they even looked like they might touch her.

Jupiter didn't notice any of that though, and stared into the leader's eyes, pushing the knife slightly harder against his throat, beads of blood appearing on the blade, warning him. Slowly he lowered the gun and then dropped it, so Daryl moved forward and kicked it behind him, keeping it out of reach of the others. Everyone was waiting to see what Jupiter was going to do, especially the leader who couldn't even swallow for fear of deepening the cut on his neck.

When he'd dropped the gun, Jupiter gave him a smug smile. "Good boy. Now... What's your name?"

He didn't answer, instead just staring her down, his eyes full of hatred and fury, though also a little fear. He didn't know if she'd do it or not. Before she could show him just how little it'd bother her to spill some more of his blood, the blonde guy spoke. "His name is Tomas, Ma'am. I'm Axel and this is Oscar, Big Tiny, and Andrew," He stammered, so Jupiter turned her gaze back to Tomas.

"Well Tomas... Listen now, and listen good. When I move this knife, you're going to keep that big trap of yours shut, so you don't draw every walker in this place right to us... You got that?" She asked, but Tomas couldn't do anything until she moved her blade back a little. When she did, he nodded, so she smirked. "Good... Now let me make myself clear right now. Any of you point a weapon at any of my group again, I don't care why, I will stab you in the neck and watch you bleed out. You hurt them in any way, or make a move to, I will end you. Understood?"

They all nodded again, so she removed the knife from Tomas's throat and shoved him back towards his friends before turning to go back to her own. Rick had joined them, and he walked past her, putting his hand on her shoulder as she moved back, leaning against the table beside Daryl as she watched Rick address the others.

Tomas was glaring at her, running his hand across his throat and looking at the blood on his hand. It wasn't deep, but the fact she'd drawn blood was clearly bothering him, enough that she knew better than to let herself be alone with him any time soon. Something told her he wasn't the forgiving type. Though in her current mood, Jupiter half wanted him to start a fight with her so she could take her anger out on something. Sure, he was bigger than her, but she'd been out in the walker world for almost a whole year. She had survival instinct on her side, as well as practice and rage.

The only thing that calmed her temper some was when they had to explain to the prisoners that the world had gone to shit and half the world was dead. They didn't believe them at first, so Rick told them to go outside and see for themselves, which they did. Jupiter went to follow after them, but Daryl grabbed her wrist to stop her. She sighed and stopped, but before he could speak, she did.

"Daryl, I will talk to you after. We can't leave them alone with the prisoners. They're out numbered..."

He looked like he might argue, but then nodded and let go of her wrist, following her out to the others. They were already talking by the time Daryl and Jupiter joined them by the bleachers.

"You never said. How the hell did you get in here in the first place?" Andrew asked, answered by Daryl as they joined the group. 

"Cut a hole in that fence over there by the guard tower."

Andrew snorted. "That easy, huh?"

Jupiter shrugged and sighed. "Where there's a will, there's a way."

Andrew scoffed and looked slightly offended as he turned away. "Easy for you to say."

Big Tiny started poking one of the bodies on the ground that they'd killed the day before on their way in, and Jupiter raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to speak. "So what is this like a disease?"

Rick nodded and told them straight. "Yeah, but we're all infected."

That caught the attention of the prisoners, and they took a step back from Rick's group, Tomas reaching for his gun again, as if afraid they were going to turn and start attacking them at any second. Why had they given him his gun back?

"What do you mean, infected? Like AIDS or something?" Axel asked and Jupiter rolled her eyes, leaving Daryl to answer as she started using her knife to clean the dirt from under her nails. Bored of playing school teacher to the guys who'd survived the end of the world by sitting in a kitchen and waiting for rescue. 

"If I was to kill you, shoot an arrow in your chest, you come back as one of these things. It's gonna happen to all of us," Daryl explained, his eyes darkening as he thought about the close call earlier on. Jupiter felt the same, her scalp still throbbing and her hands still shaking slightly. The two of them shared a brief look, missing Rick and Tomas's conversation about where the group had came from, and that they weren't moving on yet. Tomas didn't seem impressed, but he gestured to the field they'd cleared on the first day. 

"I guess you could take that area down there near the water. Should be comfortable," he offered, sighing like he actually had a choice and letting them stay was out of the kindness of his heart. Rick pulled a face and shook his head.

"We're using that field for crops."

Tomas just spoke over him, pretending he hadn't heard Rick speak. "We'll help you move your gear out."

Jupiter was glad Rick said something, because she was about to call Tomas out on his bullshit if Rick didn't. "That won't be necessary. We took out these walkers, this prison is ours."

Still Tomas didn't quit, telling Rick to slow down, and being joined by Andrew, who stepped forward like he'd just remembered he had a voice too. "You snatched the locks off our doors!"

Rick was unbothered by the pair of them, tilting his head as he spoke and his hand tapping his gun a little. Jupiter knew what that meant and took a step back, not really wanting their blood on her when Rick shot them. "We'll give you new locks, if that's how you want it," he said quietly, angering Tomas, who clearly didn't see Rick as the threat he was.

"This is our prison. We were here first!"

"Locked in the broom closet?" Rick smiled, though there was nothing funny about it. If Tomas didn't back down, he was going to regret it. "We took it, set you free, it's ours, we spilled blood!"

Tomas once again ignored Rick, turning away. "We're moving back into our cell block..." 

Rick shook his head, pointing to the others. "You'll have to get your own."

Tomas finally lost it, raising his voice as he turned back to Rick. "It is mine. I've still got personal artifacts in there, that's about as mine as it gets!" Daryl lifted his crossbow in warning, but Tomas had already pulled his gun out and started waving it around. Faster than anyone could follow, Jupiter had thrown her knife, knowing it had hit her mark when Tomas yelped and dropped the gun, a knife now sticking through the palm of his hand.

All eyes turned to her as Tomas grabbed his wrist and stared at his impaled hand, shaking slightly. Drawing another knife, Jupiter strode closer. "What did I say about pointing weapons at my group?" She snarled, ready to follow through on her promise to stab him in the neck, but then Rick was in front of her, blocking her path and whispering for her to stop. She shot him a look, as if to remind him that the guy had just been waving a gun around, but Rick just raised his eyebrows and waited for her to relax. When she put her knife back in her belt, he nodded to Daryl to take her inside. She went without a fight, her hand in Daryl's saying nothing to the others, except to send Glenn out as back up before the two of them walked up the stairs and into an unclaimed cell on the end of the row, away from all the others.

As soon as they were inside, Daryl released Jupiter and she growled and walked to the other end of the cell, leaning against the wall and waiting for Daryl to say something. He didn't, and after a while she turned around to see him leaning on the door frame, watching her while he chewed his thumbnail. She said nothing, just staring at him until he eventually grew bored and spoke, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You pissed at me or something?"

Jupiter almost burst out laughing then and there, , only she didn't find it funny. She was pissed at Daryl, and had been since they made it to the cafeteria. The fact that he didn't know why, made her blood boil. It took everything in her not to scream at him when she answered, but her voice still shook with anger when she snapped at him.

"Yes!"

Narrowing his eyes slightly, he walked into the cell and leaned back against the wall, his gaze never leaving her face. "You gonna tell me what the hell I've done, or am I supposed to just guess?"

Pushing off from the wall, Jupiter took two steps but then stopped, taking a couple of deep breaths to keep a lid on her temper. When she was sure she wasn't going to yell or slap him, she spoke. "What the hell was that, back outside of the cafeteria?"

She glared at him, but once he figured out what she was on about, it was Daryl who got pissed, also kicking off from the wall and moving closer, looming over Jupiter while he struggled to keep his own temper on a leash. "You're asking me?! What the Hell were you doing?! You could have died, Jupiter! You told me to let go for fuck sake! Do you wanna die?" He yelled. At the sound of his raised voice, Jupiter couldn't hold it back any more and shoved Daryl in the chest, forcing him back a step as she yelled back.

"Of course not! What the Hell kind of question is that?! I don't want to die, but it's gonna happen, probably sooner rather than later, and I'd appreciate it if I wouldn't have your death on my conscious too!" She took a breath, feeling how red her face was going in anger the longer she looked at him. He wasn't backing down either, but she carried on speaking, lowering her voice to a more reasonable volume. "Jesus Christ, Daryl! We both almost died today, but you know what the scariest part was? Not that I was going to be ripped to pieced by walkers... No, the worst part was that I thought I was going to drag you with me. You should have let me go!"

Daryl looked like he wanted to hit something, but instead grabbed his head and growled before turning back to Jupiter and yelling. 

"You think I could do that? Just let you go and close the door? You think I'd be able to ignore your screams as you were torn apart on the other side of a door? If you say yes, you're bullshitting and you know it! I was stuck there just as much as you! That walker might as well have had ahold of me too, because no way in hell was I leaving you there to die! Not like that, not ever!"

Jupiter balled her hands into fists, her nails cutting into her palms as she yelled at him again, stretching up to her full height as she felt too small beside him. "But why, Daryl? Why couldn't you just let me go? The thought of you dying because of me, makes me sick, Daryl! I can't deal with that ever happening!"

"And you think I can?" He roared. "After everything we've been through? You think the thought of losing you is easy? It's not! You're a fucking idiot at times, but I love you!"

The whole world seemed to stop and Daryl finished yelling, deflating before Jupiter's very eyes until he spoke again, quietly enough so only she'd hear him. "The thought of losing you hurts worse than anything I ever felt. And that's just the thought... I can't... I don't know what I'd do if it ever happened..." He trailed off, and even Jupiter was too stunned to speak for a moment.

When the shock of his confession wore off some, Jupiter snapped out of her daze and reached for the sharpest knife in her belt, flipping it over in her hand before extending it out to Daryl, handle first. He took it cautiously, looking up to Jupiter's eyes for some clue of what she was doing, so she stepped closer, pulling her hair free from its plait and then gathering it into a handful behind her.

"Cut it," she ordered, and Daryl's eyes widened slightly.

"You love your hair..." He stated, and she nodded and then sighed again, letting go of her hair and reaching for Daryl's empty hand, linking it with her own and staring down at their joined hands for a moment before looking up into his carefully guarded face.

"Yes. But you I love more, and I'm not letting anything get in the way of that. It almost got me killed today, so if I cut it off, it's one less thing that can tear us apart," she explained, watching as Daryl looked down and laughed a little, as if he was somehow surprised that Jupiter loved him back, even after sticking with him for so long. But she did, and she was serious about the hair, so she stood still and Daryl reached around her, getting her hair into one hand and then looking to her for confirmation one final time before reaching around with her knife, and in one quick movement, cut her hair.


	15. Killer Within

Jupiter would be lying if she said that she wasn't glad to hear that Tomas had been killed during the clearing of Cell Block D, and she could rest easier knowing that her people weren't under the same roof as him. The other two inmates, Rick had spared lived in cell block D, and that didn't bother Jupiter so much. She thought Axel was funny, if she was being completely honest.

She hadn't gone with Daryl and the others to help clear the other cell block, instead staying with Hershel and everyone, taking Glenn's place in case Hershel turned. Everyone in that cell had heard hers and Daryl's argument, but no one said anything when she joined them, and when they stood around Hershel that night, it was obvious that the two of them were fine. She received a few complements for her shortened hair, the ends of which barely even brushed her shoulders now. She admitted that she liked her hair shorter, especially three days later, when half of the group was in the fields, loading walkers onto the back of trucks to be moved and burned.

It was hard work and she was sweating in no time, though the breeze on the back of her neck was pleasant everytime she stopped to catch her breath, keeping half an eye on the two convicts at the front gate. They didn't want to stay in their cell block, and the majority of people didn't want them in the same cell block as them, so they were given the option of leaving, or staying in their own cell block. Apparently they'd rather hit the road.

Rick had given them some supplies and then he, Daryl and Glenn had informed her that they were heading out of the prison for firewood, so she nodded, kissing Daryl quickly before jumping in the car with Carol and heading back up to the prison, locking the gate behind them. Carol went to park the car while Jupiter swung the keys around in her hand, catching movement in the corner of her vision.

She beamed when she saw Lori, Beth, Carl, and Hershel coming out of the prison, Hershel on crutches and looking strong. She cheered for him, walking over to greet him. "It's good to see you back on your feet!" She grinned, and then mentally face palmed as she realised what she said. "I mean... Er... Foot."

Luckily Hershel saw the funny side and laughed at her, so she breathed a sigh of relief, sharing a grin with Beth and then ruffling Carl's hair lightly, about to say something to him when he suddenly turned, hearing something. Before Jupiter could even look, Carl was yelling, drawing his gun.

"WALKERS!"

Jupiter whirled around, her stomach dropping when she saw how many of them there were, all heading straight for them. At the sight of them, everyone with a gun took aim and started shooting them down. Jupiter didn't have a hand gun, so took out her knife, taking down any that got close enough. 

Soon enough it became obvious that they'd run out of rounds before they killed all the walkers, so they ran. Jupiter grabbed Carl's hand and ran towards their cell block, yelling at Lori to follow, slamming the gate after them. Maggie ran with Beth and her dad, and T-Dog and Carol moved out of sight.

As more walkers came, Jupiter knew they had to move, so followed Lori into the cell block, deciding it would probably be safer to lock themselves in. They hadn't even made it past the door when the walkers came though, so they quickly turned and headed into the tombs, making sure to close the door behind them again.

"Keep moving!" Jupiter ordered, not wanting to get caught by any walkers in there. She only had two knives and she was pretty sure that Lori was out of ammo, meaning Carl probably only had a few shots left. They had to find somewhere to wait out, and soon. As long as they kept moving, they'd be ok. Jupiter was just beginning to think they might make it back outside when she turned around to check the back and saw Lori leaning against a wall, her face screwed up in pain, so she rushed back to her and put her hand on her shoulder.

"Lori, we've got to keep moving..." She was cut off as Lori gasped in pain, and suddenly Carl was at their side.

"What's wrong, are you bit?" He asked, and Lori shook her head, turning to brace her hands on her knees, shaking her head, saying the words no one wanted to hear at that moment,

"I think the baby's coming."

Jupiter's eyes widened and she took a step back, feeling her insides go cold. "Shit. Shit..." The sound of walkers reached their ears and Jupiter swore again, this time more colourfully, not noticing the look Lori gave her, and she almost cringed at the thought of Carl hearing her, but they had more important things to be doing. "Come on, we need to get the hell out of here. Don't worry, Lori. You and your baby are gonna be just fine," she promised, putting an arm around Lori and gesturing at Carl to move ahead.

They wove through the tombs, seemingly intercepted at every junction by walkers, until Carl spotted a boiler room and the three of them hurried inside, having to remain quiet when the door wouldn't shut properly. Lori was struggling, gasping and breathing deeply in an effort to stay quiet, Carl by her side and Jupiter standing in front of the pair of them, ready to defend them should any walkers come through the door.

But they didn't. The groans passed, and the only noise was the sound of Lori's laboured breathing and the odd gasp from her. When Jupiter was sure that the walkers had passed, she turned to the next problem-taking the form of Lori holding onto a chain, her face screwed up in pain as her baby decided the most inopportune moment to bring itself into the world. She shared a worried look with Carl and then remembered that he was a kid, and it was him mum that Jupiter had just become responsible for, not to mention his soon to be born brother or sister. She had to stay calm for everyones sake.

Lori was jittery, and Jupiter was unsurprised, though she figured she should do something to help her. She thought back to her time in the hospital and the books she'd read to try and learn what she could. She'd skimmed over the pregnancy pages, not thinking she'd ever need them, and for that she cursed herself, though she remembered a few of the basics and decided to try.

"Lori, maybe you should lie down..." She suggested, but Lori just groaned and shook her head as she leaned against a desk.

"No. Can't... Baby's coming now," she gasped.

Jupiter flinched, but then remembered that Lori must know what she was talking about as she'd been through it before with Carl. Jupiter could just do what she was told, and hope there wasn't any complications. Carl was clearly scared of the same thing and thinking Jupiter didn't know what to do as he started arguing that they should head back to the cell block and find Hershel to deliver the baby. Jupiter wasn't going to risk it. If they got caught by walkers, it was game over for everyone. So Jupiter shook her head at the young boy.

Coming up behind Lori, Jupiter carefully put a hand on her friend's back, sensing how scared she was, and gave her what she hoped was a bright smile. "Lori, you and your baby are gonna be just fine. I promise... I'm here and I'm gonna help you through it. Ok?" She asked, and when Lori nodded, she relaxed a little. "Good. Now lets get your jeans off."

Lori nodded and moved to the floor with the help of Jupiter, allowing her to partially undress her. Carl stood to the side, watching on, his concerned eyes on his mother's face, so Jupiter snapped her fingers to get his attention and when he looked, she spoke to him like she would have to an adult, knowing now was not the time to be a child. "You're gonna need to help deliver baby Grimes. You up for that?" She asked, proud of her young friend when he nodded and stepped closer, awaiting the first order.

Once Lori's pants were off, Jupiter turned back to her, remembering some of the things she had to check. "Lori, I'm gonna check to see how dilated you are." Lori nodded, but Carl questioned her.

"Do you even know how?"

Jupiter didn't answer, only remembering a diagram of a coin, oreo, soda can and some other things that she assumed were for sizes. Though when she checked Lori, she could hardly tell, unsure of if Lori was anywhere near where she needed to be. Before she could say as much, Lori sat up some, reaching for Jupiter's hand.

"I gotta push," she informed her, so Jupiter helped her to her feet, trusting Lori's body to know what it needed to do. She helped her to her feet and then stood behind her while Lori took hold of an old pipe and then started to push. 

Jupiter had never seen a woman in labour before, and it was terrifying. Lori was clearly in a lot of pain, and Jupiter couldn't do anything to help her. Though at the same time, she was so impressed with the strength in Lori's body, able to stay standing through the pain and not pass out. Jupiter wasn't even the one in labour and she was finding it hard to breathe.

The sight of blood on the floor was eventually what sobered Jupiter's mind, and she just knew that the day was about to get so much worse.

"Lori, stop pushing! Something's wrong!" She yelled, but Lori continued screaming for a few seconds, worse than before. Something was very, very wrong.

Carl's face had gone white, but Jupiter didn't have time to think about it as she called him over, and the two of them quickly helped his mum to the floor.

She was white as a sheet and covered in sweat, her eyes barely open as she looked up at the ceiling. If Jupiter had felt helpless before, it was nothing on what she felt then, Carl staring at her like she should know what to do. All she could do was hold Lori's hand and encourage her friend to hold on.

"Lori, those alarms have stopped. Help's coming. You've just got to hold on... I'm gonna get you through this. You and your baby... I'm not gonna let anything happen to any of you. Just please try to keep your eyes open," she begged. Lori nodded, even as her eyes slowly closed again. Jupiter squeezed her hand and turned to look at the door. Maybe if she was fast she could kill any walkers in the way and get help back to Lori. She wasn't fit to travel, even a couple of hundred meters...

Almost as if she'd heard Jupiters thoughts, Lori started to whisper. "I'm not gonna make it."

Jupiter heard but ignored her, refusing to believe that it was possible. Returning to Lori's legs, she shook her head. "Lori, with all this blood, I don't even think you're fully dilated yet. No amount of pushing is gonna help."

Lori just nodded, looking unsurprised. At least, as much as she could when she was fighting to stay awake. "I know what it means, and I'm not losing my baby. You've gotta cut me open..."

No! God no! Jupiter couldn't do something like that. They all knew what would happen, and Jupiter couldn't... Not there, not to Lori, and especially not in front of Carl. "No... Lori, I can't."

Lori fixed Jupiter with a look that only a mother could master. "You don't have a choice..."

Yes she did, and she shook her head again, making to get to her feet. "I'll go for help. You and Carl will be fine. I'll get Hershel and..."

"NO! Don't you dare leave us here like this!" Lori's grip was like a vice, and Jupiter froze, knowing why Lori was acting like that. She thought she was going to die, and Carl would be the one who had to end it and kill his own mum, assuming she didn't get him first. Leaving them like that was almost as good as killing them both herself, so Jupiter nodded and sat back down. Lori managed a small smile, her eyes begging as she uttered one word. "Please."

Jupiter's heart stuttered and came to a stop for a second before starting up again, her voice coming out quieter than she had thought as she tried to convince Lori that this wasn't their only option. "I have no anesthetic, no equipment..."

"Carl has a knife."

Jupiter's head dropped and she fought back tears. "You won't survive."

Lori didn't care, shaking her head as she met Jupiter's gaze. "My baby has to survive. Please... My baby for all of us. Please, Juniper! Please! Please."

It was the sound of her real name that made the first tear trickle free, and Lori must have seen the defeat in Jupiter's eyes as she lifted her shirt.

"You see my old C-section scar?" Jupiter nodded, feeling sick with what she knew she was about to do, and what it was going to cost them all. Lori just smiled a little and turned to her son, calm settling over her as she spoke to her son for likely the last time.

"Carl? Baby, I don't want you to be scared, okay? This is what I want. This is right," though she seemed to be trying to convince herself of that too, only making Jupiter's heart hurt all the more. She'd do it, because Lori wanted it. She wanted her baby to have a shot at life, even if it cost her own in return. "Now you-- you take care of your daddy for me, all right? And your little brother or sister, you take care..."

Carl shook his head, starting to cry himself now. "You don't have to do this."

Lori just smiled and wiped at his tears. "You're gonna be fine. You are gonna beat this world. I know you will. You are smart, and you are strong, and you are so brave, and I love you."

"I love you too," Carl whispered, and Jupiter saw the relief cross Lori's face. She'd been scared that Carl hated her, but now in her final moments had heard the words she'd longed to for so long.

"You gotta do what's right, baby. You promise me, you'll always do what's right.  
It's so easy to do the wrong thing in this world. So don't... So if it feels wrong, don't do it, all right? If it feels easy don't do it. Don't let the world spoil you. You're so good. You're my sweet boy. The best thing I ever did. I love you...I love you. You're my sweet, sweet boy. I love you!"

Jupiter was sobbing silently now, her heart aching for the scene in front of her. She'd promised them that she'd get them all out of it alive, and now she was going to be the one to tear a family apart. That was something that was going to stick with her for a while, and she wondered if Carl would ever look at her the same again.

Lori though, she looked to Jupiter for a second before releasing Carl from the hug she'd pulled him into moments before, the two of them sobbing into each other's arms. "Okay... okay, now. Okay." She took a deep breath to calm herself, and once again Jupiter had to admire the strength of her friend, staying calm even though she knew she was going to die any moment. Though she supposed dying was the easy part, and it was the living that had to keep fighting and fearing. Maybe that was why Lori looked so at peace when she gave Jupiter her final instruction.

"Jupe, when this is over, you're gonna have to..." Jupiter sobbed out loud as she knew what her friend was asking, but nodded her head, earning a final smile from Lori. "Thank you, Jupiter. Look after my family, and promise me that you'll fight to keep yours... You and Daryl... You were meant to find each other, so don't let your love slip away or fade. You've got to fight for it everyday. Especially in this world..." Through her tears, Jupiter promised, and Lori smiled her last smile before settling into a calm, talking quietly to herself as she prepared herself for what was to come. "All right all right. It's all right. It's all right... Goodnight, love."

Jupiter accepted Carl's knife with shaking hands, and blinked back tears. "I'm so sorry," she sobbed as she drew the knife across Lori's belly, cutting deep and flinching as Lori screamed.

"You're killing her! Stop!" Carl screamed, but then Lori stopped screaming, her eyes closing and a final breath leaving her before she moved no more. Seeing the life leave her friend set Jupiter into a new cold calm. Lori was dead, but her children were not, and Jupiter was going to stick to her promise as far as that and make sure they survived that day.

Cutting away more of Lori's insides, she paused and turned to Carl, hating herself for what she was asking. "Carl, give me your hands..." He just stared at her in horror, but Jupiter needed him. "Carl, please!" She insisted and Carl snapped to it, placing his hands into the still warm corpse of his mother.

"You should keep the site clean, okay? I cut too deep, I'm gonna cut the baby..." Jupiter said, mainly to cover up the deafening absence of Lori's breath.

She saw something and breathed in relief. "I can see it... I can feel it's head and... Take the knife, I'm gonna try to pull it out," she ordered, her hands around the baby's body, pulling it out once Carl had taken the knife.

For a moment the two of them sat in silence, Jupiter's heart clenching when the baby didn't move or cry. It had to be ok... It had to be.

Carefully turning the lifeless baby onto it's front, Jupiter gently patted it's back to try and clear it's airways, almost collapsing in relief when the baby opened it's mouth and screamed. It was ok.

"It's ok. She's ok.. Carl you've got a sister," she cried, accepting Carl's jacket to wrap the baby in, managing a small smile at the baby in her arms, alive and kicking. Not for long though if they didn't get out of there and to safety. "Carl, we've got to go. I need to get the two of you to safety..."

They got to their feet, and Jupiter cast one final look at the body of her dead friend before attempting to lead her children from the room. They were almost to the door when Carl stopped her, saying they couldn't just leave his mum there to turn. Jupiter had already thought of that, and her promise to Lori. She'd been planning on coming back once the two kids were safe, but Carl wasn't budging.

Jupiter nodded, understanding his pain and went to pass him his new sister, but Carl shook his head and pulled his gun out. "No. She's my mum, and I'm gonna do it."

At first Jupiter was against it, but only for a second. Carl needed to do it, it was written clearly on his face, so she slowly nodded and watched him walk back into the room, her heart breaking a little more with each step he took.

She couldn't stand the thought of it, so she closed her eyes, hugging the baby to her chest and trying not to cry as she waited for the shot. When it came, she opened her eyes, about to walk back into the room to see if Carl needed her, but he was back, walking straight passed her with a face like stone.

Her eyes watered again and Jupiter followed him out of the room, drawing a knife to throw at any walkers if they encountered any, but the tombs were clear, and they made it back to their empty cell block in one piece. No one was inside, so they headed for the doors, hearing voices outside, mainly Ricks as he shouted orders.

"...That doesn't mean the others didn't. We're going back... Daryl and Glenn, you come with-"

The baby in Jupiter's arms started to cry, and Jupiter couldn't help but join in as she saw most of her friends in the yard, all turning to them at the sound of the baby's cries. When Rick's gaze met hers, she knew she didn't have to say anything... He knew.

She couldn't look away from him as she slowly walked to him, his child in her arms, and his son beside her. But no wife.

"Where... Where is she? Where is she?" He asked, though he knew the answer. One look at Jupiter or Carl was answer enough, but still he tried to walk passed her, heading back into the cell block, already crying.

Jupiter couldn't let him see his wife like that and grabbed his wrist as he passed. "No Rick, no!"

He pulled out of her grip but only made it as far as Carl before his legs gave out and he hit the ground beside his son, sobbing as the reality hit him.

Lori was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This episode sucked. It's so sad when Lori is saying goodbye to Carl and I've watched it like four times this week so I could get bits right... Eww my emotions are gross. But anyway, I hope you are enjoying the story so far! If you are, feel free to leave a cheeky little kudos or comment to let me know! Thank you!  
> (P.S If you have anything you'd like to see in this series, feel free to let me know and I'll see what I can do. I'm trying not to change huge points, but if you'd want to see Jupiter swap places with a character (Like she did with Maggie in this chapter) for any part of the story, let me know! Also, I write one shots a lot on tumblr, so if you have any one shot type scenes/things you want to see, just let me know! Thanks again!!!)


	16. Say the Word

Jupiter didn't know what to do with herself. Rick was laying sobbing on the ground while the others just stared at her and the baby, saying nothing, all in complete shock. The baby was still crying, and Jupiter looked down at her, noticing how her hands shook slightly, so she thought it best to pass the baby on before she dropped it.

"Carl," she whispered, handing him his baby sister when he stood in front of her. She made sure he was holding her right and then turned back to Rick, seeing Daryl already in front of him, speaking to him though Rick was clearly not up to talking. Daryl gave her a look, and she knew what it meant. Rick was not ok at all. They had bigger problems though, which Daryl addressed when Hershel told Carl to show him the baby. "What we gonna feed it? We got anything a baby can eat?" He asked, walking to look at the baby, strapping his crossbow onto his back.

Hershel inspected the baby and nodded. "The good news is she looks healthy... But she needs formula. And soon, or she won't survive."

His words snapped her out of whatever trance she'd been in since cutting Lori open, and Jupiter shook her head, though it was Daryl who spoke. "No. No way. Not her. We ain't losing nobody else... I'm going for a run," he announced, heading towards the cars. Jupiter nodded and followed behind him. "I'm coming too."

Daryl watched her for a few seconds but thankfully said nothing. Maggie on the other hand objected. "No. You've been through enough, Jupiter. I'll take care of this," she promised, putting a comforting hand on Jupiter's arm, meaning to relax her. Jupiter snatched her arm away and shook her head. 

"No! It has to be me!" Maggie frowned, but Jupiter didn't care if she'd hurt her feelings. "I made a promise to Lori... I'm going for the formula. Please don't get in my way."

Maggie nodded, understanding that Jupiter had to go. Daryl finished talking to Beth, asking her to look after Carl, and then got on his bike, Jupiter climbing on behind him. They were out of the prison in under a minute, speeding down the road towards a shopping mall Glenn had told them to check. Jupiter held on tight to Daryl, her cheek flat against his back to protect her face from the wind, and her mind constantly replaying the events of the boiler room, wondering if she'd done anything differently, would Lori still be alive? Would she have been able to get to Hershel in time if she'd ran for him when she wanted to?

Those were only some of the what if's bouncing around her skull as she clung onto the back of Daryl, allowing the sound of his heartbeat to comfort her slightly, and remind her of what was actually important. Lori's dead, there's nothing anyone can do about it, but her baby? She was alive, and she was the only thing Jupiter should be thinking about. She'd broken one promise to Lori, but even if it killed her, she would keep this one, and she was going to protect those two kids with her life, starting with finding that baby some formula.

So she sat up on the bike, no longer hiding away from the wind, and instead keeping an eye on their surroundings. It was lucky that she did too, or else the pair of them would have missed the tiny sign on the side of the road, pointing towards a potential gold mine. They'd already passed the junction, so she leaned forward and spoke into Daryl's ear. "Turn back! I just saw a sign for a nursery! They might have what we need," she called, and he nodded, slowing the bike and then turning it in the road, going slow as he looked for where she had seen the sign, so she pointed it out and he nodded, speeding up again.

They wound up in a small neighbourhood, quiet and no walkers around. Jupiter took that as a good sign and got off the bike before Daryl, a knife in her hand just in case. Daryl whistled and nodded his head down the road, where she could see tiny walkers in the distance. They had about ten minutes, so they had to be quick.

Daryl led the way into the building, Jupiter hanging back a little and checking each room as he cleared it, packing her bag full of baby things-anything she thought they might need. She almost cried with relief when she found two tins of formula, tucked away in a cupboard. She didn't have time to cry though. The walkers were still coming and they had to get the formula back to the prison, so she ran back out to the bike with Daryl, getting on the back and holding tight as he sped off.

She was expecting a straight shot back to the prison, but once they were back on the main road, Daryl stopped the bike and turned to face her. "We've got the formula, but that mall is only a couple of miles ahead... Should we go check anyway? There might be more shit we need..."

Jupiter thought about it for a second, feeling the weight of the tins in her bag, but also knowing that it might not last long. Then again, if the two of them were killed because they went to the mall, the baby wouldn't get any formula, and the group would lose more people... Eventually she sighed and nodded. "We go to the mall, but if there's too many walkers, we don't risk it. We'll go home and come back with the group..."

Daryl watched her carefully for another second before nodding and sitting back down, pulling off and heading away from the prison direction again. This time he drove slower, having to weave around cars in the road, so Jupiter kept her gun out, ready to shoot should any walkers show up. They made it through ok though, and when they were about half a mile away from the mall, they ditched the bike, hiding it in a garage and then going the rest of the way on foot so they didn't attract any walkers with the noise of the bike.

It seemed quiet though, and as they walked, they only encountered two walkers. Once they put them down, Daryl couldn't stand the silence any more, and decided to just ask Jupiter about what happened in the boiler room with Lori and Carl.

"So you wanna talk about it?" He asked quietly, not looking at her as he was busy scanning the road ahead for any signs of danger, so he missed Jupiter's shrug, though after a moment she sighed and answered out loud too.

"I don't know what there is to say..." She mumbled, looking down at the ground as she walked. Daryl looked at her then, squinting slightly as the sun glared into his eyes, getting lower with each passing minute. They only had a few hours until sun down, and they didn't want to be caught outside the prison gates after dark. He wondered if continuing to the mall had been the best idea after all.

"How about what's really bothering you? You ain't just sad about Lori... There's something else," he stated, reading Jupiter like a book. They'd grown close on the road, and they could read each other easily for the most part, though there were still times when the two of them would clam up so much that there was no hope for anyone to get close.

Now was not one of those moments, as Jupiter needed to talk about it, even if she didn't want to, and Daryl was the only one she would tell what was bothering her, knowing he'd understand. So she told him everything that had happened from when they saw the walkers to when they came back out of the cell block with the baby.

"... But I promised her, Daryl. I promised them both that I was gonna get them all out of there alive, but then I ended up being the one who killed Lori... I can't help but feel like I could have done something differently... Or if I'd have swapped places with you or Rick, would Lori still be ali-"

"Stop that!" Daryl cut in, grabbing Jupiter's hand and pulling her around to face him. "You hear me? Stop it! What's done is done, crying about it now ain't changing a thing." He wiped away the tears she hadn't known she'd shed, with his thumbs, and tilted her head back so she was forced to look at him. His piercing blue eyes were intense as they met her hazel ones. "You saved that baby girl, and you got Carl out of there alive. Just like Lori wanted... She made her choice, and you ain't to blame for what happened. She made her choice," he repeated, not letting her go until he saw the acceptance flicker in her eyes and her shoulders slumped a little.

He kissed her forehead and then pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her as she buried her face in his shirt, her body trembling as she attempted to control herself. 

A few seconds later and Jupiter took a shaky breath, moving back from Daryl and staring up at the sky to dry her eyes. Without a word, Daryl took her hand and the two of them started walking again, reaching the mall quickly. 

There was only a few walkers in the car park, so they just stayed low, hiding behind cars as they got closer and closer to the doors. When they reached them, Jupiter noticed that one of them was slightly ajar, and through it she could see chains locking the doors from the inside. She pointed it out to Daryl, keeping her voice low as she asked if he thought anyone was inside. He held his breath, lifting his crossbow to point at the door, while Jupiter quickly peeked over the top of the car to see if any walkers had come any closer. They were fine for now, but they had to get inside or leave.

Daryl inched closer to the door, staring at the darkness through the gap and gave the door a slight pull, making the gap slightly bigger and shining a light inside. After a few seconds he turned back to her with a shrug, unable to see anything. He tried to climb through the gap in the door, but he was too big.

Instead of letting him attempt to break the chain, Jupiter quickly moved forwards, handing him her pack as she squeezed through the gap, only just fitting.

Almost out of instinct, Daryl grabbed her sleeve on the way in, stopping her from disappearing. "No. You ain't going in there alone. What if it's overrun? Get back out here, we'll find another way in!" He hissed, but Jupiter shook her head, peering into the shadows of the room, making sure she was alone before answering him.

"No. We haven't got time for this, Daryl. That baby needs formula, so I'm going in. I'll be quiet and quick. You try and find a way in elsewhere, but keep the formula with you. If I get in any trouble, I'll make my way to the roof and find a way down from there. If we lose each other, we meet back up at the bike in an hour..." She checked her watch. "If you get there first, wait twenty minutes and then go. If I'm not dead, I'll make my way back to the prison on foot, or camp out in one of the cars for the night and you can come get me in the morning... Right?" She instructed, and Daryl hesitated a second before nodding once and releasing her. He was always super protective of the group after a loss, so she knew how hard it was for him to let her go in there alone.

Leaning back through the door a little, she pulled him towards her and quickly kissed his mouth before pulling back into the mall. "I love you," she whispered, turning to head into the building. She barely heard his reply, but still smiled a little as the whisper of it reached her ears.

As promised, she was careful as she moved into the mall, listening for any noise before she turned on her torch, keeping it pointed down. It was mostly silent, though she could hear at least one walker somewhere close by, but not within view. So she proceeded, her knife drawn just in case.

She passed an information desk, seeing papers scattered everywhere, and picked one up once she saw the map on it. Squatting behind the desk, she quickly scanned the list of shop names, and once she found a pharmacy, she stood, checking around her again and then started moving again, consulting the map every few minutes to check that she was going in the right direction. She was, and soon enough she was standing outside of it, staring up at the sign.

There was just one problem though. The shutter was down.

She cursed quietly when she saw it, noting how it was just her luck for that to be the case, as the shops on either side of it were still open. Clearly their owners hadn't cared about looters, and had just ran...

She looked down at her watch again, knowing she had to hurry up, but unsure of how to proceed. It felt sinister to be standing in a dark shopping mall, alone and in the open. Anyone or anything could be creeping up on her in the shadows...

She shuddered and walked into the shop closest to her, on the right side of the pharmacy. She almost laughed when she saw what it was. An outdoors shop, still stocked pretty well with various supplies and weapons. Including crossbow bolts, she noticed with a small grin. Before she went over to them, she noticed something else that may of helped her with getting into the pharmacy. A roof tile was missing, exposing space above it, full of wires and pipes, but big enough that she might be able to crawl through it into the pharmacy... If only she could find a way up there?

She did a quick search of the room, swearing out loud when the only ladder she could find was a small step ladder that wouldn't even get her half way up there. Still, it was better than nothing, so she placed it on the floor and climbed on top of a shelf, feeling the metal wobble beneath her, not made to support her weight. Despite the fact that she was only an inch or so higher than her own height, her legs still shook slightly, her fear of heights kicking in. She pushed on though, knowing she was gonna have to climb through the ceiling and potentially drop on the other side. It was the only way she was gonna get into the pharmacy...

When she reached the space beneath the missing tile, she reached up, not quite tall enough to be able to grab the edge. She knew she'd have to jump, but the wobbling metal beneath her feet might tip if she landed too heavy on it, and that would draw every walker in the mall to her.

"So don't miss," she hissed at herself, shaking her hands and then jumping for the gap, realising too late that the ceiling might not hold her weight. Luckily it did, so she pulled herself up, grunting with the effort, and her arms shaking. She made it though, and spared a second to catch her breath before starting to move, crawling slowly into the darkness and thinking of that scene from Jurassic Park all the while.

Of course if she fell through, it'd be walkers that ate her, not dinosaurs, a fact which she found oddly comforting. She'd rather take her chances with walkers than raptors anyday...

When she realised where her thoughts had went, she shook her head and refocused on what she was doing, knowing she had to be above the pharmacy now, so she stopped moving and clicked on her torch again, lifting the tile in front of her and then peering into the dark room beneath her. It looked empty, and she couldn't hear anything, so she dropped her pack ahead of her and then slowly lowered herself down, her feet kicking slightly in the air as she looked for somewhere to land. She was still a fair distance from the ground, but she had no choice other than to drop, so she closed her eyes and let go. Hitting the ground quietly, and not falling over or stumbling.

Smugly, she stood up straight. "Yes, I am a frigging ninja," she muttered, sad that no one had seen her skills.

Scooping up her pack, she pulled her torch from her pocket and lifted it, clicking it on just in time to see the walker lunge for her face.

"Shit!" She yelled, back pedalling quickly and tripping over a bottle of something, landing on her arse. The walker was still coming for her, following her to the ground and snarling as she kicked out at it, trying to keep it away from her while she fumbled for one of her knives. It lunged at her leg, managing to grab it and chomp down before she could throw her knife or kick it off.

She screamed and thrashed against the walker, trying to get it off her, but it had clamped down on her and wasn't moving. In a last ditch effort, she grabbed her knife and leaned forward, quickly stabbing it through the head and then kicking it off her.

"No! No no no no no no no!" She whimpered as she shoved the walker away, unable to believe that it had managed to bite her. After everything, she'd been bitten on a stupid supply run they hadn't even needed to extend. That only made her feel worse. Daryl would blame himself...

Her hands were trembling as she reached for her torch shining it down at her leg, needing to see for herself.

When the light found the bite site, Jupiter froze, her heart stuttering for a second as she couldn't believe her eyes... There was no blood.

Fumbling with her boots, she quickly undid the laces and shoved the boot off, inspecting the pale skin beneath and falling back when she saw she bruise blooming there, but no blood. The walker's teeth hadn't managed to get through her leather boots. She was fine.

Falling onto her back, Jupiter cried in relief, so glad that she'd decided on wearing her taller boots that day instead of the walking boots that she usually would have worn, which wouldn't have protected her from that bite. She stayed that way for a few moments until she regained her calm and sat up, pulling her boot back on and lacing it up before getting back to her feet. She booted the walker in the head as she passed, quickly heading to the baby section.

Despite her near death experience, Jupiter was so glad that Daryl had suggested going to the mall too. The baby section was almost fully stocked, so Jupiter cleared the whole newborn shelf, not wanting to risk coming back and there being nothing there. Once they made it back to the prison with the formula, they could organise another supply run and explore the whole mall.

When her bag was heavy with supplies, Jupiter looked at her watch and swore. The hour was almost up, and she was still inside. If she didn't move quickly, she was gonna get left behind... And that was only the beginning of her problems.

The sound of approaching walkers reached her ears and she turned her torch off, remembering how she'd screamed when she was attacked, knowing it'd been what drew the walkers. Still, if she was quiet, she might be able to sneak by them, after all, they didn't see any better in the dark than she did.

She managed to climb out of the pharmacy using a ladder in the back, and when she dropped back into the outdoor shop, she stayed low, listening for any walkers near by, not trusting her luck to hold from surviving the days events so far. Still, the outside seemed quiet, so she stayed low and moved quickly back in the direction she'd came, having to duck out of sight twice, waiting out the walkers so she could move again. But then she was at the door, shoving her bag out in front of her and then following it quickly, looking around for any sign of Daryl, and when she saw none, figured he'd already gone.

She took off running as soon as she was out of the car park, risking a look at her watch as she made it onto the street where they'd hidden the bike. She was late. Daryl would have left...

Still, she kept moving, her heavy bag making her slower than usual, and she reached the garage out of breath. She couldn't hear anything, but she still checked just in case, looking around the corner and sighing in relief at the sight of Daryl leaning on his bike, waiting for her. When he saw her, he quickly stood up, moving to take the bag off her.

"You waited," she huffed, unable to be pissed at him as she really didn't want to be left behind over night. He gave her a small smirk as they went back to the bike and climbed on, not actually saying anything in his defence, though when Jupiter got on behind him, she kissed his cheek as she sat down. "I'm glad you did..."

She decided to tell him about the walker bite once they got back to the prison, so he could yell at her after the baby was fed. Speaking of... "I found loads of baby stuff. We have to come back here, Daryl... With a car. There's so much stuff left over!" She called over the wind as they set off, and Daryl nodded to say that he'd heard her, speeding up some.

It was getting dark, so they had to hurry.

It was night by the time they got back, but the others were waiting, distracting the walkers and opening up the gates for them so they could drive straight up to the main building. Once Daryl had parked, the two of them jumped off and ran inside, Daryl taking the lead, while Jupiter closed the gates and once inside, hurried over to Beth and Maggie with the supplies.

They used the formula from Daryl's bag, quickly mixing a bottle and then handing it to Daryl, who had picked up the baby and was holding her close, speaking quietly to her while they waited for the bottle. When Jupiter gave it to him, he offered it to the hungry baby, and they all smiled as she drank from it.

Daryl smiled down at the baby and then looked up at Jupiter, still smiling. She grinned back at him, her heart swelling at the sight of Daryl being so sweet with the baby. The baby they'd managed to save despite everything.

"She got a name yet?" Daryl asked, looking to Carl, who loked at his sister and shrugged.

"N-Not yet. I was thinking maybe Sophia..." He started, and Daryl and Jupiter both lost their smiles a little. Sophia was still a painful subject for them both, even if Carol could say her name easily without flinching... They'd still been through so much for that little girl and hadn't managed to save her... They didn't want a repeat with the baby.

Carl continued though, listing off the names of all the females they'd lost, eventually confessing that he didn't know, so Daryl took it easy on him and started talking to the baby.

"You like that? Huh? Little ass-kicker?" He cooed, and everyone laughed, the mood lightening again. Daryl looked up at everyone in the room for their reactions, smirking. "Right? That's a good name right?"

Jupiter just smiled and shook her head, walking by Daryl and kissing his cheek lightly, mentally making the note to never let him name their kids if they ever had any.

"You like that, huh? Little ass kicker? You like that sweetheart?" He asked again, smiling down at the bundle in his arms.

Jupiter just grinned again, carefully unpacking the contents of her bag onto the table, seeing Hershel come closer to look at what they'd brought back. She'd brought a lot, but she knew they'd still need more in a couple of weeks, though she doubted the pharmacy she'd been in was the only in the mall, and there was actual baby stores too, so they could hopefully find stuff in them too.

"Are you alright?" Hershel asked, and Jupiter looked at him with her eyebrows raised, so he gestured to her leg. "You keep rubbing it... Anything I need to take a look at?" He asked, and for a moment she debated saying no, but then shrugged and figured why not.

She looked back to see Daryl talking to the others still, so she nodded her head towards the cells and Hershel nodded, following her in. She went into his cell and he sat down on the bed beside her, waiting her her to speak.

She started undoing her laces as she spoke. "I went into a mall alone today, even though Daryl told me not to and wasn't happy with it... I persuaded him otherwise and got myself bit... Luckily my boots saved me, and all I've got is bruising, but I'd still like you to look at it, just in case... I'd rather not be a risk to everyone," she explained, lifting her leg for him to look at.

He did a quick exam, feeling her skin and taking her temperature, asking her if she felt any different. She answered no to everything and he nodded, checking the bite site one last time before letting her up. "The good news is that the bite didn't break the skin, and the teeth never came into contact with you, so you aren't infected. However-"

"What bite?" Came a voice from the doorway and Jupiter flinched as she looked up, seeing that Daryl had joined them and was not looking happy.

Hershel closed his mouth and left Jupiter to explain, which she avoided for a moment.

"I'll explain everything in a second. Let the doc finish," she tried, not expecting it to work, but then Daryl nodded once and leaned against the doorway, his arms crossed as he watched them. Jupiter pulled her boot back on and Hershel finished speaking.

"It was close. If it had been an inch higher, you might have suffered the same fate as me... Or worse." With that he stood up and left, Jupiter close behind, but instead of heading back into the other room, Jupiter led Daryl to the stairs and sat down on them, explaining what had happened in the Pharmacy. Daryl listened without saying a word, and she expected that he was saving it up until she finished, and then he was going to yell at her for being so stupid, and for convincing him to let her go in alone.

Instead of all that though, when she finished speaking, he just sighed and ran a hand down his face, too tired to yell. "Next time, you're not going alone," was all he said, letting his head fall forwards as he rested his elbows on his knees. Jupiter nodded and reached out to touch the back of his warm next, trailing her fingers over his skin lightly.

"I know. I'm sorry. It was stupid, but at least we got the stuff. Kid's gonna be okay for a week or two."

Daryl nodded, and then nudged her leg with his own, chuckling a little as he looked up at her. "Did you seriously kick a dead walker in the head?"

She smirked and playfully pushed his shoulder. "Shut up, Dixon!"

He just laughed harder and took her hand, leading her up to his cell where the two of them collapsed on the bed and were asleep almost instantly, the days events catching up with them all at once.

Jupiter was still exhausted at sunrise the next morning, when she and Daryl woke up and headed out together, going into the field together to pay their respects to their friends who had been buried the day before.

They crossed the field holding hands, stopping in front of the first grave, marked with a C for Carol. Looking at it, all Jupiter could hope was that Carol was with her daughter somewhere, and they didn't have to be afraid any more...

T-Dog's grave was beside hers, and Jupiter let go of Daryl' hand and went to stand in front of it, thinking of the time she'd spent with him, and how he'd always been willing to protect others, no matter the danger. He'd been a good man, and a friend, and she was sad to know he was gone... Him and Carol.

Daryl placed a cherokee rose on Carols grave and then stood, Jupiter returning to his side. The two of them said nothing as they looked down at their friend's graves, allowing a moment to mourn before they slowly turned and walked back the way they'd came, the sun rising as they got ready to face another day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank bejesus for big leather boots right? I mean, c'mon Jupe, clear a room properly before jumping into it... I'd have had to write really angsty Daryl if you died, so be more careful kid!  
> Once again, ye faithful reader, thank you for reading this, and feel free to like a kudos or comment to let me know what you think... (I'm not important enough to not reply to comments, so you'll always hear back, even if it's just a thank you... I'm good like that)  
> Anyways... I'll try to write and upload the next part soon... I have an idea for some cheesy happy things that will make the prison crew happy and distract from the sadness for a while, so that'll be happening in one of the next few chapters.  
> Thanks again for reading!


	17. Calm Before The Storm

A week later and things were looking up. Carol had been found alive in the tombs, Rick was semi normal again, and the baby was doing great. Carl had named her Judith, and she was a tough kid, just like her brother. Though clearly the events lately were bothering him as he was quieter and clearly unhappy. His mom had just died, so Jupiter could understand his pain. That didn't make it any easier to look at each day though, so when Carl did finally say something to Jupiter and they managed to hold a whole conversation, Jupiter had an idea of what she could do to cheer him up.

She knew that it was a dorky idea, but when everyday is a living nightmare, a bit of dorky fun was sometimes necessary to keep everyone sane. So at breakfast that day, Jupiter brought forward her idea to the group. 

"Hey, you know what me and Carl figured yesterday?" She started, and everyone looked up at her, so she continued. "We were on the road all winter, so guess what we missed?"

Carl managed a small smile and answered her question quietly. "Christmas?"

Jupiter grinned at him and nodded. "Christmas. Exactly... So I was thinking maybe we could do something? Lighten the mood. Give gifts and decorate... Just something to make it feel less like we're living in a prison and the world ended. I don't know..." She trailed off, regretting saying anything and blushing deeply.

But then the others started nodding and agreeing that it was a good idea, which succeeded in cheering Carl up somewhat.

"Yeah, that's actually a great idea, Jupe," Glenn grinned as the others started discussing stuff, so Jupiter grinned back at him and then sat back in her seat, smiling to herself as her plan worked. Daryl and Carol came in a few moments later, having been patrolling the fences. Daryl sat down beside Jupiter, casually draping his arm over her shoulders and tilting her head to face him so he could kiss her mouth gently, making her smile.

In the beginning, Jupiter had initiated most of their contact as Daryl was too shy or awkward, especially around other people, but he'd grown more confident as time went on and she was always pleasantly surprised when Daryl randomly showed her affection when he was near her, even if it was just taking her hand or kissing her cheek as they passed each other.

"Mornin'" Daryl said as he moved back, "You were out of it this morning. Didn't even stir when I got up," he commented and Jupiter shrugged. She'd been having nightmares again and didn't sleep that well during the night. Not that she was gonna tell Daryl that. He spent most nights in her cell, so he'd woke up with her a few times, when she woke up screaming. She didn't want to tell him what her nightmares were about. She still had the airport nightmare occasionally, but lately it had been more Daryl central.. Like the night before when she'd dreamt that they were back on the farm, and Daryl died for her, ripped to pieces in front of her very eyes.

She put those thoughts of of her head and told Daryl that she wanted to go back to that Mall that day, and would he come with her so she could find gifts for the others. He seemed a tad surprised about the gift part, but she quickly filled him and Carol in on the christmas idea. 

Carol seemed excited by the idea and quickly mentioned baking something, if they could find her the things she'd need on their run. Of course Jupiter agreed and asked any of the others if they wanted anything or if they wanted to come to the mall.

Axel and Glenn agreed to come, so soon enough the four of them were gearing up and climbing into the truck, Jupiter grabbing the keys before anyone else could, and ignoring the protests as she stuck her tongue out and jumped into the driver seat.

So maybe Jupiter wasn't the best driver in the world, but she was getting better...

There was a tap on the roof and she turned around to see Daryl in the truck bed, smirking at her through the window.

"You don't have to take the corners on two wheels. Try to remember that," he smirked, so she flipped him off and turned back around to hide her grin. 

They'd only made it two miles before Glenn looked like he was gonna puke, so Jupe took pity on him and climbed out, getting in the back with Daryl.

They'd just set off again when Daryl looked at her and raised his eyebrows at her. He gestured to her bare legs. "You really think shorts is the best option for doing a run? Especially after last time?" He asked, so Jupiter shrugged and laughed at him.

"Dude, you sound like my dad! You gonna make me go home and get changed?" She challenged and he smirked before shaking his head and putting his hand over the tattoo exposed on her thigh.

"Nah. But I ain't letting you outta my sight till we're back in the prison."

Jupiter laughed and pushed his shoulder lightly. "Like you can keep your eyes off me anyway!" She teased, and Daryl snorted, though said nothing, so Jupiter just grinned and took his hand, knowing she was just as guilty. Maybe it was because the world had ended and tomorrow wasn't promised, or maybe it was just because she was madly in love with him, but either way, Jupiter couldn't help but smile every time she saw Daryl, her eyes always going back to him when they were in a room together. He was usually looking back, and they'd have whole conversations with just their eyes, the rest of the group totally oblivious for the most part, though Carol would sometimes smirk at the two of them if she caught them, and they'd just chuckle and rejoin the spoken conversations around them.

"You know I'm gonna be fine right? Last time was a stupid mistake because I was hurrying. This time I'm not in a hurry, and I've got you guys to watch my back... This is gonna be an easy run, and the four of us are gonna go home like little Christmas elves and try and put a smile on everyones faces. The good Karma should be working in our favour..."

An hour later and Jupiter's theory was looking good. There only seemed to be three walkers in the car park, and the doors were still chained like before, so there wouldn't be too many on the inside, and no one else had cleared everything out. So they were all in high spirits as they jumped out of the truck by the doors Jupiter had crawled through last time. Despite the fact she'd have back up this time, Jupiter still didn't like the thought of going back into the darkness inside.

"Hey, maybe we can find the backup generators and turn them on?" She suggested to the others, and Glenn nodded, casting a look back at the darkness beyond the doors.

"Yeah, we probably should. Minimise the chance of walkers sneaking up on us... And we'll be able to actually find things easier... Good idea, Jupe."

She grinned and winked at him. "Aye, I've been known to have a few... I'll go for the generators and you guys start shopping?" She offered, but Glenn shook his head.

"No. I'll go with Axel, and you and Daryl head back to the place you found the formula. See if there's anything left for Judith... You know where it is, so it'll be faster..." He explained, so she shrugged and then nodded, not particularly wanting to find the generator room anyway, knowing it was likely dark and creepy anyway. She'd rather take the baby supply run first.

Well now that's settled... She thought, picking up the bolt cutters and about to break the chain, when Daryl stopped her, walking ahead of her and kicking the slightly open door, making it smash against the frame and make a loud noise that echoed inside. He stepped back with a finger up.

"Give it a few seconds..." 

Nothing.

"Ok, this shop's clear for now, lets go," he gestured, letting Jupiter proceed with breaking the chains, his crossbow raised just in case, Glenn and Axel the same with their melee weapons. As soon as the locks were broken, she grabbed a handle and pulled it open, jumping out of the way, just in case. But there was nothing there. No walkers in sight, and no groaning to suggest any were close by, so the four of them relaxed and were about to go inside when Jupiter remembered something and told them all to stop.

"I've got a map," she announced, pulling it from her pocket and handing it to Glenn. "I found it on the floor last time I was here. Use it to find the generator room, I know where I'm going... Here," she pointed at the store on the map. "In case you can't get the generators working. This is where we're gonna start."

Glenn thanked her for the map and then the four of them quietly moved into the mall together, weapons and torches raised as they moved as a unit, making it through the first store and into the wing of the mall. There the four of them split up, Axel and Glenn going one way to look for the generator room, while Daryl and Jupiter headed back to the pharmacy.

Even with Daryl beside her, Jupiter was just as creeped out this time as she'd been the first, a knife in her hand just in case. Her nerves were justified, as the two of them took down five walkers on the way to the pharmacy, probably the same ones that had heard her scream before, lingering as nothing else caught their attention. They were easy enough to kill, most of them unaware of Jupiter and Daryl until they already had a bolt or knife in their heads.

They quickly searched the bodies for anything useful before continuing forwards, making it to the pharmacy with no further troubles, other than the still locked shutter.

"I'll go through the ceiling again..." Jupiter sighed, heading back into the outdoors shop while Daryl attempted to lift the shutter, just in case. While he did that, Jupiter spotted the crossbow bolts by the counter again and quickly shoved them into her pack, hiding them from Daryl before he returned. When he joined her, she was looking at walkie talkies, handing one to him and turning her own on, testing it before attaching it to her shorts.

"There, now you'll know if I'm dead or not," she figured with a playful grin, but Daryl didn't see the humour.

"That ain't funny... Why do you have to climb in there again? Why not me?" He demanded, and Jupiter pulled a face at him.

"Because I'm lighter and smaller! And you've got the crossbow, so if any walkers come while I'm up there, you don't have to get close to fight them off. I've only got two knives..." She tried, and Daryl frowned but then nodded, seeing her point, but still not looking happy about it, no doubt thinking about the last time she'd convinced him to let her go somewhere alone while he waited for her, and what had almost happened after. She took pity on him, touching his arm lightly. "Daryl, the room's clear. That's where the walker almost got me. It's dead... I should be the one worrying about you, not the other way round... Now give me a hand so I can get up there and get the supplies."

He didn't argue, so Jupiter gave him a quick kiss before heading to the shelves she'd climbed before, allowing Daryl to give her a boost up, and then getting to her feet slowly. The shelves still shook beneath her weight, but soon enough she'd jumped up to the roof again, climbing through and into the darkness once more. The tile she'd moved before was still missing, a fact which she forgot until she almost fell through it, catching herself at the last second and swearing as her shoulder complained. It would not have been good if she'd fallen through and landed on the walker body below.

That was gonna be a problem, she realised, lowering herself down as far as she could before pausing, not wanting to land on the body, but also not having much of a choice... Sighing, she was just about to let go anyway, when the lights suddenly turned on, blinding and surprising her enough that she let go, landing on the ground with an undignified oomph! Somehow missing the walker body all together.

Now the lights were on, she could see everything, including the key by the doors that would open the shutters, meaning Daryl could join her. She went over to them and twisted the key, smiling when the shutter started rolling up.

Daryl waited on the other side, his pack fuller than before, probably full of supplies from the Outdoor shop next door. He left that pack at the door and came in with an empty one. "The other two found the generators then," Jupiter commented as he joined her, his eyes immediately moving to the dead walker on the ground before going back to hers, nodding.

"Makes our job easier," he agreed, stepping over fallen things on the floor as he headed for the baby section. Jupiter joined him, and between the two of them, they filled three bags with baby supplies and anything else that would help the group, almost clearing the pharmacy completely by the time Axel and Glenn found them.

When they saw the full bags, they cheered and smiled, happy for what they'd found. The four of them returned to the truck with what they'd got from the pharmacy and then handed out walkies so everyone had one, before heading back in for what they'd been asked to get. They each had a list of things they'd been asked to get from the others, for people, or just things to keep their eyes out for.

The mall was well stocked, looking like it hadn't been looted too much, so it didn't take long for them to fill one truck and then find another, beginning to fill that too. They were on their last trip inside when Jupiter tried peeking at what Daryl's list said. "What've you got left to get?" She asked, but Daryl quickly scrunched the list up and turned away from her.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He teased, all but poking his tongue out at Jupiter, so she huffed in mock annoyance and walked on, her list done. She was only there now for back up, and to look for anything else that might be useful or nice for someone. It was then that she found herself in the make up section, and smiled at the thought of how she'd used to complain about the price of foundation as one of her may problems, but now had to fight for her life every day and hadn't even thought about make up in a long time.

Deciding that they had space, Jupiter grabbed a few things, figuring it might be fun for her and the other girls to mess around with it at some point, just for a laugh, or in an effort to feel less grimey than they usually did.

She'd just closed her bag when Axel found her, smiling nervously at her, still shifty around her since she'd put her knife at Tomas's throat and then through his hand. She didn't have a problem with Axel and was trying to scare him less, but that was easier said than done, especially when Daryl scowled at him every time his gaze lingered on Jupiter a little too long.

In a way she felt sorry for him. He hadn't seen a female in god knows how long, and with limited chances of meeting a girl that wasn't dead, the occasional glance at her body didn't bother her too much. Though at the same time, she could understand Daryl's glares. Had she been in his position and saw another girl looking at him how Axel looked at her, she'd have lost it a while ago.

"We're ready to go. The other two are waiting outside..." He explained, so she nodded and followed after him, back into the natural light and throwing her pack in the back of the new car before turning back to the others, waiting to hear what was happening next.

Glenn closed the doors to the mall, not locking them in case anyone else needed supplies, but closing them to keep walkers out. Then it was decided that they'd go straight back to the prison, not wanting to risk losing the supplies they'd found, so Jupiter nodded and got in the passenger side of the Land Rover they'd found, Daryl driving.

The two of them drove behind Axel and Glenn, keeping an eye out in case any supplies should fall off the back of the truck, but none did, and they made it back to the prison in under an hour, the others waiting eagerly and running back to the main building after the cars.

Everyone helped to carry things into the cell block, piling things up against the wall, and Jupiter could see why. While they'd been gone, the others had piled mattresses and blankets around, making a little seating area with plates of food in the middle. It took all of Jupiter's willpower not to collapse on the mattresses and stuff her face on food, instead helping bring the rest of the stuff in and then moving the land rover to the other cars, closely followed by Glenn in the truck.

The weather had changed on the way back to the prison, and the wind was beginning to pick up some more now, so Jupiter and Glenn hurried back to the cell block, closing the door behind them to keep the chilly wind out. They'd got back just in time, it seemed, as the rain started, hammering against the windows as the group found seats around the food. Jupiter didn't mind the rain, feeling cosier with the others because of it. She'd always loved the sound of rain on glass, so she had a faint smile as Daryl came to sit behind her, his legs on either side of her, and arms snaking around her middle.

Carol passed out a plate of food to everyone, and for a moment there was silence as people dug in, but then Rick spoke up, Judith cooing in his arms. "Before we start with everything, I think we owe thanks to the four who went out today and brought this all back... Especially Jupiter, who had the idea in the first place... We don't get to do nice things enough as of late, so thank you," he finished, and the others cheered, making Jupiter blush slightly before speaking up.

"Hey, I don't get all the credit. It's Carl who helped me come up with it," she pointed out, laughing and cheering with everyone while Carl smiled shyly. Deciding she'd start, Jupiter pushed a cardboard box towards him. "I figure these'll keep you entertained for a while," she smiled. Everyone watched as Carl quickly opened the box, his face lighting up when he saw the contents, reaching inside with a huge grin on his face.

"No way! This is awesome!" He cheered as he pulled out a stack of comic books, making various sounds of disbelief and happiness as he looked over each of them, the others laughing at his joy.

From there, everyone handed each other gifts, laughing as they went, watching everyone having a great time. Jupiter's face was aching from smiling so much, but she didn't mind one bit, laughing along with everyone and grinning when people were given their gifts.

Soon enough alcohol was passed between the adults and the giggling continued. Jupiter took a swig of whiskey, and Daryl chuckled and whispered in her ear that she was a lightweight, just like he'd done so long ago, back when they'd only just become friends. How much had changed since then? For once she smiled as she thought about it. They'd lost people on the way, yeah, but they hadn't died for nothing, and they'd never be forgotten. Judith would grow up knowing the stories of all they'd lost, Jupiter would make sure of it.

She was interrupted from her thoughts when Daryl handed her two things, one in a box, and the other in a pouch looking thing. She accepted them with a smile, wondering what they were. She looked at the box first, laughing when she read them. 300 PG Tips Tea bags.

"I figured its a little taste of home," Daryl whispered, and Jupiter smiled before turning to him, kissing him lightly before thanking him. She was touched by the thought, so she didn't have the heart to tell him that she detested tea, and had since she was a kid. She was a coffee girl till the bitter end.

Then she moved on to the next gift in her lap, opening the pouch and grinning widely when she saw what it held. Inside was a harness looking thing, with only one leg and a belt, heavy but she knew why. It was a knife belt with a leg sheath, filled with throwing knives.

"They'll be easier than your hunting knife, and I brought spares in case you lose any," Daryl explained, smiling when he saw how impressed Jupiter was with her new knives. She couldn't wait to try them out. She thanked Daryl again and then reached for one of her bags that she stored his gifts in.

She gave him the whole bag, knowing it had only his things in it anyway, and watched happily as Daryl pulled out what she'd got him. First he pulled out loads of new crossbow bolts, which he laughed at, thanking her before placing them with his others. But then he found the rest of the stuff in her bag.

"Babe..." He pulled out various things for his bike, extra parts and things he'd need for it. Axel had helped her find the things for his bike as he knew about Bikes too. Daryl's bike had belonged to his brother, so Jupiter knew how important it was for him to keep it going in good shape. Jupiter laughed at his reaction, looking like a kid on... well, Christmas...

He continued messing around with the arts and supplies, so Jupiter reached behind her for the most obvious gift she'd brought back, handing it to Glenn. It was a guitar. As soon as she'd seen it, she'd thought of him, remembering Dale finding one so long ago. She'd seen Glenn with it a few times, but like so many other things, it was abandoned on the farm when they'd ran. This one wouldn't be left behind. They had a home there and the walkers couldn't get in.

Glenn chuckled and thanked Jupiter for the guitar, playing a few notes before looking up sheepishly, seeing everyone watching him. "You know, I don't know how to play right? I always wanted to learn, but never did..."

Jupiter didn't know if it was the giddy mood they were all in, or the alcohol in her system, or maybe even a mix of both, but either way, she found herself speaking up proudly. "I know how... I was in a band, back in Britain."

She had been. Her and Alaska had formed a band when they were 15 and it had lasted all that time. There'd been others in it too, and they'd been pretty good, even playing a few gigs. Jupiter had played guitar and was the lead singer, a talent she hadn't told any of them about, even Daryl. He knew she could play guitar, but she'd never brought up that she could sing too.

"Play us a song!" Carl called, the others cheering in agreement, and Glenn holding out his guitar for her to take. On a normal day, Jupiter might have refused, but as it was, she was too happy to say no, and the smile on Carl's face was addictive. She wanted him to be happy for as long as they could keep it going. So she stood up and accepted Glenn's guitar, the others cheering louder as she sat back down, testing out a few chord shapes before looking up at the others, seeing their waiting faces.

"What do you want to hear? Any suggestions?" She asked with a chuckle, feeling like an exhibit in a museum. No one suggested anything, so she shrugged and giggled a little nervously before clearing her throat. "Ok, so I haven't done this in a while, and I'm a little drunk right now, so don't be too harsh..." She mumbled before taking a deep breath and then diving in, playing the first note and then opening her mouth and singing.

"I'm only one call away

I'll be there to save the day  
Superman got nothing on me  
I'm only one call away

Call me, baby, if you need a friend  
I just wanna give you love  
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon  
Reaching out to you, so take a chance

No matter where you go  
You know you're not alone

I'm only one call away  
I'll be there to save the day  
Superman got nothing on me  
I'm only one call away

Come along with me and don't be scared  
I just wanna set you free  
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon  
You and me can make it anywhere  
For now, we can stay here for a while  
'Cause you know, I just wanna see you smile

No matter where you go  
You know you're not alone

I'm only one call away  
I'll be there to save the day  
Superman got nothing on me  
I'm only one call away

And when you're weak I'll be strong  
I'm gonna keep holding on  
Now don't you worry, it won't be long  
Darling, and when you feel like hope is gone  
Just run into my arms

I'm only one call away  
I'll be there to save the day  
Superman got nothing on me  
I'm only one, I'm only one call away  
I'll be there to save the day  
Superman got nothing on me  
I'm only one call away

I'm only one call away."

She strummed the last note and then looked up. For a moment nobody moved or said a word, all of them too busy staring at her with their mouths open. She blushed deeply and went to hand Glenn his guitar back, but then they snapped out of it and everyone was suddenly cheering and clapping, freaking out that she could sing and hadn't told anybody.

Jupiter just continued blushing as she made her way back to Daryl, sitting down beside him and laughing as the others continued to tell her how good she was, and ask her if she had any more hidden talents. She laughed along with them for a bit, feeling Daryl's gaze on her face, and meeting it after a moment, seeing the smile in his eyes as he looked at her. She smiled back, her whole heart feeling about ready to burst with the joy she'd felt that day. Everyone was happy, she'd got to do something she'd loved before the world ended, and she was alive and with her family. Everything was great.

She should've known it was just the calm before a storm.


End file.
